A British Conservative front-bencher was sacked today after he saying ethnic minorities in the armed forces should accept racist comments from their colleagues.
Patrick Mercer, the Tories' shadow homeland security minister and a former army colonel, also said he knew "a lot" of ethnic minority servicemen in the army who used perceived discrimination as an excuse for poor performance.
Mr Mercer told the Times Onlinetoday that suffering racial abuse - as well as abuse about facial features, hair colour and weight - was common in the Army and to be expected.
"That's the way it is in the Army," he said. "If someone is slow on the assault course, you'd get people shouting: 'Come on you fat bastard, come on you ginger bastard, come on you black bastard.'"
He also said of his time as an officer: "I came across a lot of ethnic minority soldiers who were idle and useless, but who used racism as cover for their misdemeanours."
Conservative party leader David Cameron condemned the comments, saying they were "completely unacceptable".
Mr Mercer subsequently resigned and later apologised. "What I have said is clearly misjudged and I can only apologise if I have embarrassed in anyway those fine men whom I commanded," Mr Mercer said.
Agencies