A Northern Ireland politician has insisted he is not racist, after being sharply criticised for a tweet about US vice president elect Kamala Harris.
John Taylor - a former Ulster Unionist Party MP and now member of the House of Lords as Lord Kilclooney - tweeted: "What happens if Biden moves on and the Indian becomes President. Who then becomes Vice President?"
Mr Taylor has previously drawn criticism for describing Leo Varadkar as "the Indian".
His tweet about Ms Harris was immediately condemned, with some commentators describing the remarks as "disgusting".
Angela Smith, Labour leader in the House of Lords, said the remark was "despicable and beneath contempt, and totally unacceptable".
She said she would be making an official complaint about the comment.
In a statement, Norman Fowler - Lord Speaker of the House of Lords - called on Mr Taylor to "retract and apologise".
He said: "This is an offensive way to refer to anyone, let alone a woman who has just made history.
"The comment is entirely unacceptable and has no place in British politics. I could not be clearer."
In a follow-up this afternoon, Mr Taylor said: "Whilst Biden is proud to be Irish and Harris is rightly proud of her Indian background I certainly withdraw my reference to her as an Indian as it seems to have upset some people.
"I did not know her name and identified her with the term Indian. Most people understood. Racist NO."
Ms Harris has both Indian and Afro-Jamaican ancestry, and will become the first woman of colour to hold the office of US vice president.
