Mr William Hague's attempts to draw a line under the row over race in politics were thrown into disarray yesterday when one of his MPs said multiculturalism was "a mistake".
The Conservative leader was under pressure from senior figures in the party to withdraw the whip from the MP, Mr John Townend, after he wrote to the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) on Thursday attacking its concept of a multiracial, multicultural British society. He also accused Labour ministers of making the British a "mongrel race".
The Yorkshire East MP, who will stand down at the next general election, sparked off the row over race earlier this month when he accused immigrants of undermining Britain's "homogenous Anglo-Saxon society". At the time, Mr Hague rebuked him, saying his comments did not reflect the views of the party but on this occasion the party leader resisted calls to withdraw the whip saying it would be an empty gesture.
"I think what we need here is not a gesture, but it is to make clear what the Conservative Party stands for. We oppose racism in all its forms. We believe that the multicultural nature of Britain today is one of the strengths of Britain today," Mr Hague said.
But the Conservative peer, Lord Taylor of Warwick, bitterly criticised Mr Hague's refusal to withdraw the whip as a "cop-out" and suggested he was failing to act because he was "frightened of a certain rightwing element in the Conservative Party".
Signalling his disappointment with Mr Hague's leadership, Lord Taylor said: "Now is Mr Hague's chance to demonstrate real macho leadership by withdrawing the whip from Mr Townend and booting him out of the Conservative Party. "He has caused a great deal of offence, not only to ethnic minorities around the country but to decent people in England of whatever colour who believe in and live in a multiracial, multicultural society."
In a speech to Asian Conservatives in Bradford, West Yorkshire, this week, Mr Hague pledged "all races and all backgrounds" were welcome in the party, but in other speeches he has spoken of Britain becoming a "foreign land". Lord Taylor said this was an example of "saying one thing one day and another thing the next day, and people feel uncertain as to where he really stands".
But Mr Townend was unrepentant. He defended his views and accused the CRE of stifling debate on the race issue ahead of the general election.
"This is an important issue at this election and I think this pact was aimed to stop discussion, and anybody like me who puts their head above the parapet is accused of being racist," Mr Townend said.
"Once you divide people up into groups, you have got problems, and then of course you have resentment from the indigenous population who feel that their interests are not being served."