The Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, was heckled by a group of protesters yesterday during an election campaign walkabout in Wolverhampton, Rachel Donnelly reports.
The crowd surrounded Mr Hague and his wife, Ffion, as they toured the West Midlands town, and some of the protesters were angry about the row over race that engulfed the party before the election campaign. One of the protesters shouted at Mr Hague: "Why don't you dump the racists from the Tory Party?"
After a few minutes, security officers escorted Mr Hague and his wife from the crowd, but a party spokesman later played down the incident.
"There were hecklers, but it is nothing more than we are used to. We went ahead with the visit as planned and it certainly was not cut short," the spokesman said.