Bitter race row after Oldham riot

11:50 am By ANDREW GRICE and IAN HERBERT

LONDON - A bitter row over race broke out between Britain's political parties today as police sought to prevent a second night of rioting in Oldham, Greater Manchester. The Liberal Democrats accused the Tories of fuelling racial tension by adopting a hardline stance on asylum-seekers.

Five hundred Asian youths caused widespread damage in the town on Saturday night (local time) in Britain's worst race riot since the mid-1980s. Seventeen people were arrested. and 15 police officers suffered minor injuries.

Community leaders pleaded for calm yesterday as the Jolly Carter pub on Lees Road, half a mile from Saturday's riot, was bombarded with bricks by 30-40 people who had been fighting among each other. Several windows were smashed.

Saturday's riots, which were not quelled until around 5am Sunday, were said to have be reprisals for weeks of abuse and incitement from far-right groups ­ and direct retaliation for attacks on a barber's shop and homes in the Asian district of Glodwick on Saturday evening, during which a brick was thrown through the window of a pregnant Asian woman's window.

Police are working on the theory that the final catalyst for the riots may have been an argument between an Asian and a white schoolboy outside a chip shop.

The disturbances sparked another heated debate over multiculturalism. Lord Tebbit, the former Tory chairman, said the lesson he drew from the Oldham riots was that "separate and distinct societies living in the same territory are always at risk of clashing." He added: "What it does mean is that they have not got sufficient binding them together to avoid them creating themselves into tribal factions." Lord Tebbit, who said recently that happy multi-cultural societies were rare, suggested events in Oldham proved the "truth" of his remarks.

But Lord Taylor of Warwick, the black Tory peer who clashed with the retiring Tory MP John Townend over race last month, rejected Lord Tebbit's verdict and appealed for all parties to tone down their language. He said: "There is absolutely no excuse for the violence perpetrated in Oldham; those who committed it can't blame anyone but themselves. It is vital that politicians of all parties avoid emotive language when it comes to discussing both immigration and asylum. They are separate issues but it is so easy to get them mixed up by the use of emotive language."

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman, infuriated the Tories by saying their language on asylum may have indirectly fuelled racial tension. He told GTMV: "If politicians talk up things that encourage the view of racial difference then there is an indirect likelihood that will resonate with people, particularly with young people, and increase prejudice."

He added: "We must be very careful with our language and that's why some of us have been very critical of some of the language William Hague and his colleagues have used over the last two years. It may not have a direct effect but ... in some cases it may well encourage people to think they can get away with intolerant language and ... intolerant behaviour."

A furious William Hague replied: "I reject this accusation. It's an accusation made by parties trying to play the race card themselves. Asylum is an entirely different issue to race," he said. Ann Widdecombe, the shadow Home Secretary, said Mr Hughes should apologise for his "scurrilous smear".

The Liberal Democrats' attack appeared to backfire when Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, refused to blame the Tories. He said: "We have all got a duty to moderate our language, but I do think it is impossible to argue, incredible to argue, that what happened in Oldham yesterday can be laid at the door of William Hague.... I don't think debate is helped by that."

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