Britain's first Asian party political leader will be a Tory, William Hague has predicted during a visit to Bradford.

Mr Hague gave an upbeat speech to an invited audience of local party supporters - including many Asians - at the city's Hilton Hotel. He said the Conservative Party had seen the first Jewish leader, the first woman leader in Margaret Thatcher and would see the first Asian leader.

Mr Hague used the occasion to stress the Conservative Party was a haven for all ethnic communities.

He distanced himself from the comments of retiring Yorkshire East Conservative MP John Townend who had earlier blasted multi-cultural Britain, saying he did not agree with Bradford Council issuing information about Council Tax in several different languages.

Mr Hague said he "repudiated" Mr Townend's comments but would not withdraw the whip because the MP was stepping down anyway.

"Some people say the Conservative Party doesn't represent all the different communities in Britain," he said. "They should come to Bradford and have a look."

He added that he was proud that the party was fielding two Asian candidates - Mohammed Riaz and Zahid Iqbal - in Bradford in the forthcoming election.

Many of the 200-strong audience were supporters of the Bradford West prospective parliamentary candidate Mohammed Riaz, a former councillor, who got an even warmer reception than his party leader.

"The message to those left wing snipers in the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, is that the Conservative Party is an inclusive party and the party for people of every race and religion," Mr Riaz said. "As you can see in this audience and in the way we have destroyed the Labour Party in this city, this is the face of the Conservative Party for years to come."

To noisy applause, he claimed: "Bradford will provide two Asian MPs - Zahid Iqbal and myself."

Mr Hague said: "I believe in a multi-cultural Britain. You can see the strength of it here in Bradford and we also see it in the Conservative Party here in Bradford. What we see here is the future of the Conservative Party - welcoming people from many different communities."

Asked why there were no black or Asian Conservative MPs at the moment, Mr Hague replied: "We had black and Asian candidates last time, but we didn't get them elected - we didn't get most of our candidates elected."

He added that two Asian Tory MEPs had since been elected.

Asked to comment on the Lidget Green disturbances on Easter Sunday, Mr Hague said: "I am very sorry for everybody who was caught up in it. I think the police are seriously under strength here in West Yorkshire - 400 police officers have been lost since Labour came to power and that doesn't help in these situations."