A Tory MP has strongly denied any racism after seeming to suggest that the majority of criminals were black.
Bob Spink reportedly made the claim in an exchange of emails with one of his constituents in Castle Point, Essex.
He was asked: "Are you saying that a lot more criminals are black than white - or that there are more black people in jail than white because they are stopped more often?"
According to the Daily Mirror, Mr Spink replied: "The former, and that's what people don't seem to like. But I didn't enter a beauty contest when I became an MP!!!!"
Mr Spink insisted on Monday that the way the comments had been portrayed was "disingenuous" and "politically mischievous".
He said: "In fact, I was simply repeating to my constituent the answers that the Home Secretary had put down to me in the House of Commons.
"I asked a range of questions of the Home Secretary to establish the facts about crime. He told the House of Commons that, pro rata, many more young black men are known to the criminal justice system than young white men. That is simply a statistical fact."
Mr Spink told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that he wanted to have a "serious debate" about the issue without "silly charges of racism being thrown around".
"I think it's an MP's duty to be honest and truthful, to set out the facts as they are and to seek to resolve serious problems like where crime is coming from and why there are five times more young black men in prison than young white men.
"I don't think it is racist to address that issue - in fact, quite the opposite. If the main parties don't address that issue then we leave a vacuum that will encourage extremist and nasty parties to come in and fill," he added.
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