Nigel Farage has dismissed criticism of the lack of diversity in Ukip's manifesto by claiming there was a 'half black' party spokesman featured prominently - and 'one fully black person'.

The Ukip leader made the remarks after being asked at his manifesto launch last week to justify the scarcity of black and Asian faces in the Ukip manifesto.

It includes several photographs of the party's top team although it was suggested the only black face in the document appeared on a page about overseas aid.

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Nigel Farage has dismissed criticism of the lack of diversity in Ukip's manifesto by claiming there was a 'half black' party spokesman featured prominently - and 'one fully black person'

The question provoked noisy barracking, including from a group of black and Asian candidates attending the launch.

Mr Farage said the premise was wrong, with the picture of the party's immigration spokesman Steven Woolfe ignored.

He told Magic Radio: 'Well firstly there was one fully black person.'

Mr Farage added: 'There was another one of our leading spokesman who is half black and that didn't get a mention. And he featured very prominently on page six. So the premise was wrong.

'I thought what happened was really interesting. There was a journalist from one of our leading daily newspapers who made the comment you know, there's only one black.

'And what happened was that there was an eruption in the room as our black and ethnic minority candidates stood up and looked at this guy in a pretty hostile way.'

The Ukip leader - trying on hats at a campaign stop in Canterbury, Kent, today - made the remarks after being asked at his manifesto launch last week to justify the scarcity of black and Asian faces in the Ukip manifesto

The Ukip manifesto included several photographs of the party's top team although it was suggested the only black face in the document appeared on a page about overseas aid

Mr Farage added: 'What they were saying was we're just about sick to death of the sneering media class trying to make Ukip out to be something completely other than it is.

'We're a non-racist, non-sectarian political party but we don't have all female quotas, we don't have all black quotas, we treat everybody as being equal.

'I think we're a multi-racial society. I think the multicultural society is a much more contentious point and perhaps that's the bit that may have gone slightly wrong.

'Over 10% of our candidates come from BME backgrounds. We're probably more diverse in our membership than some of the other parties who talk about all of this in a sort of 'holier than thou' way.'

Mr Farage said the party's immigration spokesman Steven Woolfe - who has dual heritage - was 'half black'

The Ukip manifesto launch was overshadowed by a row over the number of black and Asian people included, after a journalist pointed out that the only image showed someone from an ethnic minority - an African woman in the overseas aid section

Ukip has also proposed to amend the smoking ban to allow pubs and clubs to open smoking rooms.

The manifesto states these rooms would have to be properly ventilated and physically separate from non-smoking areas.

Mr Farage said: 'There are 76 pages in our manifesto and that is one little sentence tucked away in there.

'It's about freedom of choice that's the point. Thirty pubs a week are closing and a lot of them particularly in built up areas where they haven't got a big food trade.

'They rely on people going into the pub at five, six o'clock after a hard day's work and a lot of those people might not smoke all day but they want a smoke with their drink that evening.'