Tory candidate denies racist campaigning

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A Conservative candidate in next week's local elections has been accused of exploiting race to win votes.

Derek Stone, running for the new directly elected post of mayor in Lewisham, south London, was criticised for a poster that described him as "one of your own" and depicted a Union flag.

Mr Stone was the first man to advise the former prime minister John Major to use a soapbox to address voters, during Mr Major's days as a councillor in Lambeth in the 1960s.

More than 25 per cent of Lewisham's electors have ethnic backgrounds. Mr Stone's Labour and Green Party rivals attacked the poster as "racist" and urged Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative Party leader, to order its withdrawal.

Sinna Mani, the Green candidate, said he had written to Mr Duncan Smith because both the phrase and the use of the flag were unacceptable.

"It is totally inappropriate and clearly intended to appeal to racist elements," Mr Mani said. "It should be condemned by all responsible people under our agreement with the Commission for Racial Equality to keep racism out of politics."

Steve Bullock, a former leader of Lewisham council, who is the Labour candidate for mayor, said that the Tories should be more vigilant about how their election material could be interpreted.

"In a borough like Lewisham, all candidates should take care to make sure that their material does not, whether wittingly or unwittingly, cause offence or appear to have racist overtones," he said.

Mr Stone said he was not referring to his colour but was emphasising his local roots.

"When I say I'm one of your own, I mean that I was born and bred in Brixton and I'm south London through and through. As for the Union Jack, what's wrong with that? Labour use the red rose.

"The people playing this up are the Green Party because they have got a black candidate who's hoping it will help him. I see all people as people, irrespective of their colour. I'm not the one trying to play the race card, my opponents are."

A Conservative Central Office spokesman said the allegation of racism was nonsense. "Anyone who knows him knows he's not racist," he said.