TORY leader William Hague was today under pressure to discipline a Bolton-born MP who said controversial race remarks by John Townend were "basically true".

Laurence Robertson, MP for Tewkesbury, said Mr Townend had raised "important issues" and claimed that "cramming" together different racial groups was making society difficult to manage.

His views will be especially controversial in Bolton given that he once stood, unsuccessfully, for the council seat in multi-ethnic Derby ward.

The comments by Mr Robertson, a former Farnworth Grammar School pupil, were a further blow for Mr Hague who had hoped to draw a line under the issue after forcing Mr Townend to retract comments about the British becoming a "mongrel race".

"Given that the remarks were basically true but rather offensive in the way they were put forward caused a problem," Mr Robertson, 43, told BBC2's Newsnight.

"Perhaps William Hague felt that it was an issue that did have to be dealt with. But it is difficult to deal with it when people are raising important issues.

"Having too many people in different multi-racial groups makes society very difficult to manage, especially in certain parts of the country.

"It is about how successful can you be in cramming people together from different cultures and expecting them all to get on in a very harmonious way. It is not that easy to manage that kind of society."

Judith Edwards, the black Tory candidate for Liverpool Riverside who was put up to speak for Conservative Central Office, said Mr Robertson's comments would now have to be investigated.

"His comments will need to be studied very closely and he will also, possibly, be required to give an explanation," she told the programme.

Mr Robertson was elected MP for Tewkesbury in 1997 with a majority of 9,234.