Why is it that asylum seekers are always bogus, always on the scrounge and never genuinely fleeing from torture, extrajudicial execution and cruelty?

Lord Dholakia

He said the appointment of the Buckingham MP to the Tory frontbench demonstrated that the party had moved to the "extreme right".

Lord Dholakia, who is of Gujarati origin and moved to the UK in 1956 from Tanzania, described Mr Bercow as "a right-wing MP who once advocated the voluntary repatriation of black and asian people, the repeal of the race relations legislation and the abolition of the commission for racial equality.

"He will now shape the Tories' race relations policies."

"Led by Bercow, the promise of a diverse society advocated by the Tories sounds hollow."

"Why is it that asylum seekers are always bogus, always on the scrounge and never genuinely fleeing from torture, extrajudicial execution and cruelty?" he asked.

Government and opposition 'xenophobic'

Lord Dholakia, who is on the council of the Howard League for Penal Reform and is an administration and liaison officer at the Commission of Racial Equality also attacked the Labour government's record on asylum seekers.

He said: "The xenophobic attitude shown both by the government and the opposition is a case in point.

And he attributed the Liberal Democrats' surprise by-election win in one of the Tories' safest seats to party leader Charles Kennedy's stance on the issue.

He said: "It took the courage of Charles Kennedy to speak up at the height of the Romsey by-election and the voters demonstrated what they thought of the other two."