Tory candidate quits over immigration views

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - A parliamentary candidate for the Conservative Party resigned on Sunday after saying a controversial party figure had been right when he warned in the 1960s about the risks of uncontrolled immigration.

Nigel Hastilow came under fire for writing a newspaper column citing Conservative politician Enoch Powell who caused outrage by saying in his 1968 "rivers of blood" speech that unchecked immigration to Britain could lead to racial violence.

Hastilow said Powell was marginalised for warning that uncontrolled immigration would change the country irrevocably. "He was right. It has changed dramatically," he said in the column for a newspaper in Wolverhampton in England's West Midlands.

One minister in the Labour government said Hastilow's remarks exposed the Conservative Party's "racist underbelly" and another called them unacceptable and urged Conservative leader David Cameron to rethink his support for Hastilow.

Hastilow, due to contest a marginal West Midlands seat at the next election, resigned as a Conservative candidate after being called to meet party chairman Caroline Spelman.

"I am very sorry that any remarks of mine have undermined the progress David Cameron has made on the issue of immigration," Hastilow said in a statement.

A Conservative spokesman said the party had accepted his resignation.

Hastilow's comments were an embarrassment to Cameron, who has steered the Conservative Party towards the centre since becoming leader two years ago.