LONDON – A member of Britain’s House of Lords was today forced to deny thathe is a racist after he called Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar a ‘typicalIndian’ on social media.

Lord Kilclooney, a former member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) inNorthern Ireland, was responding to a BBC headline on Twitter which read:’DUP: Varadkar’s visit to Northern Ireland showed ‘disrespect”. Kilclooneytweeted back yesterday with the words, ‘Typical Indian’.

“I am certainly no racist and in particular have an admiration for Indians.A member of the British/Indian APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group), onlyyesterday I had a reply from 10, Downing St asking for a relaxation ofvisas for Indians. My point was that the PM (Varadkar) had upset Unionistsmore than Irish PMs had,” he later tweeted, after being accused of racism.

But many took to Twitter to condemn his words, including former UlsterUnionist leader Mike Nesbitt who said it could only be interpreted as a’racist comment’.

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said Lord Kilclooney was “anembarrassment”.

She said his latest comment was a “slur on all Indian people with his useof the word ‘typical'” and demanded that the Speaker of the House of Lordsraise the matter with the peer.