A prominent UK race relations activist has claimed that "black people in Europe and UK can't be racist".
Lee Jasper, who was senior policy advisor on equalities to former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, and the Respect Party's candidate for the Croydon North by-election, made the claim on Twitter.
After confusing Pakistan with Bangladesh, Labour London Assembly member Murad Qureshi pointed out the potential insult of such a gaffe based on the fraught history of the two countries.
Jasper resigned as Livingstone's advisor in 2008
Although apologising for the mistake, Tory councillor Gareth Anderson waded into the argument saying the comments constituted a "racial slur".
Jasper responded by calling Anderson an "idiot" and went on to criticise his "pathetic attempt to call a black man racist".
When pushed to explain this comment Jasper tweeted:
He then went to target the conservatives as a whole:
Jasper has courted controversy in the past for calling for the creation of "black schools" to "stem the avalanche of educational failure and the descent into violent gang culture".