Salmond: Farage "Fishes In Pool" Of Racism

8 June 2016, 15:33 | Updated: 31 August 2016, 14:02

Alex Salmond says Nigel Farage "fishes in the pool" of racism - but Iain Dale accuses him of making exactly the same point as the Ukip leader.

The SNP MP was asked on LBC whether the Archbishop of Canterbury was correct to say Nigel Farage's comments on sex attacks in Europe were racist.

Caller Sharon asked whether Mr Salmond backed Justin Welby's comments, to which he responds: "Yes, I think he was right. Nigel Farage did that for a reason.

"You can differentiate when people are scaremongering. It's a bit like Cameron and World War 3. Cameron says 'I never said World War 3'. But nonetheless, Downing Street briefed to allow the newspapers to say it for him.

"Similarly, if you examine Nigel Farage's speech, he doesn't say 'Look, there's going to be lots of Eastern European rapists on our streets'. But he allows others to draw that conclusion."

Iain Dale asked why, if Mr Salmond didn't think there was a problem, why Germany was holding evening classes to teach migrants how to approach western women.

He said: "It's certainly the case that people from different backgrounds will have different cultures and morals."

But Iain hit back: "That's exactly what Nigel Farage would say. It is exactly what he said."

However, Mr Salmond insisted: "I think the language of Nigel and Ukip is designed to stir up racial antagonism between peoples. Absolutely."

Asked if he thinks Mr Farage is racist, Mr Salmond said: "Nigel Farage fishes in that pool, yes."