BRITAIN: Conservative leader Michael Howard resisted invitations to panic yesterday as three new polls again suggested Labour is strengthening its election lead.
Accused of racism and "pandering to xenophobia" in order to appeal to his party's core vote, a defiant Mr Howard dismissed reports that senior frontbenchers, including members of the shadow cabinet, had asked him to tone down his rhetoric on asylum and immigration.
And Mr Howard insisted he would continue to warn of the dangers of uncontrolled immigration, telling his morning press conference: "We clearly believe there should be a limit on immigration. I have always believed, I'm sure it's true, that good community relations and firm but fair immigration controls go hand in hand together. We have seen immigration triple under Mr Blair. No one's ever been asked their views about that."
The race row exploded after Mr Howard's ITV appearance with Jonathan Dimbleby on Sunday in which he was asked if he feared a repeat of race riots seen in Burnley and Oldham.
"Yes," he replied. "I think people have to have confidence in the system. They have to understand that there is a proper system of controls that gives people reassurance."
Following Mr Howard's clash with members of the audience, who charged him with "playing on fear" and "pandering to xenophobia and hatred", Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy accused Mr Howard of avoiding sensible debate about the issue and appealing to his "core vote".
Mr Kennedy said every mainstream party in Britain backed a system of controlled immigration and that to suggest otherwise was misleading.
In Birmingham to promote Labour's appeal to "schoolgate mums" with proposals to improve children's health, Labour leader Tony Blair declined to make any charge against Mr Howard, while again saying these issues needed to be treated with care and sensitivity.
However, furious Tories demanded an apology after Scotland's first minister, Jack McConnell, appeared to accuse them directly of waging a racist campaign. Mr McConnell claimed Mr Howard was running "a nasty little right-wing campaign" in a speech in which he also criticised SNP leader Alex Salmond for complaining that Scotland is haemorrhaging talent.
Addressing the Scottish TUC in Dundee he said: "You will hear no racism from me, and you'll hear no whining nationalism either."
Labour denied that Mr McConnell was accusing the Conservatives of conducting a racist campaign. But Scots Conservative leader David McLetchie said: "Jack McConnell continually preaches that others should raise their game. How sad that he is of such little stature that he has stooped so low.
"He must immediately apologise to the vast majority of Scots who want controlled immigration, not uncontrolled immigration, and who want the issue to be debated and discussed in a mature manner."
Conservative spokesman David Cameron last night told the BBC's PM programme that he did not want people of racist views to support the party on May 5th.
The Sunday Times last weekend reported that home office officials had secretly calculated there are some 500,000 illegal immigrants in Britain, despite repeated claims by ministers that they do not know the scale of the problem.
Reports of a "wobble" in Tory ranks over Mr Howard's focus on immigration and asylum rhetoric, as well as his modest plans for tax cuts, came as a poll for the Times showed Labour heading for another big majority courtesy of a nine-point lead. Two other polls suggested Labour leads of five and eight points.