RACIAL equality leaders and politicians last night heaped condemnation on Sir Iain Noble, the Scottish landowner and businessman, after he told a conference that he did not want to see black people “setting up ghettos” in Scotland.

Sir Iain, who admitted he was a “racialist” who wants to preserve Scotland’s genetic purity, also called for the influx of English people to Skye, where he owns a 23,000-acre estate, to be halted.

The co-founder of Noble Grossart, the merchant bank, made his comments during a major conference in Edinburgh.

Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader and MP for Skye, described his remarks as “offensive”, while a spokesman for the Racial Equality Commission said the comments were “very unfortunate”.

Aamer Anwar, the race campaigner, claimed Sir Iain was “a racist who should keep his comments to himself”, and an SNP spokesman said: “There is a consensus that the type of Scotland that we want to build is a modern, multi-cultural nation. These kind of racist comments have no place in that.”

However, Sir Iain, the 68-year-old owner of the Eilean Iarmain estate, said: “I am not a racist in the sense of disliking people. I just don’t believe that ancient civilisations should be destroyed by aliens.

“I’m very sorry they have taken umbrage and I’m sorry if I’ve given offence. That was not my intention. I wanted to encourage debate.”

Sir Iain, a Gaelic enthusiast whose business interests on Skye include an award-winning hotel, whisky export firm and Gaelic college, was one of the headline speakers at the Scottish Countryside Alliance’s Connecting Communities conference last Tuesday.

He argued that English incomers to Skye had to be stopped. He also welcomed attempts by Scottish Natural Heritage, the government’s conservation agency, to ensure trees were grown from local seeds, and urged the body to adopt the same policy when employing staff.

He said: “Does that mean I must be a racialist? I think I have to confess that I am. It doesn’t mean I don’t like foreigners. I love them, all colours. I have many Indian friends and even one or two black ones.

“But I don’t want them to settle and create ghettos in my patch of the country. I don’t have any English blood in my veins, a thing which I am inordinately proud of. And I’m sure that SNH would be pleased as well, because they believe in the purity of species.”

Sir Iain also attacked the idea of tourism as a solution to the problems of rural areas. He said: “People thought tourism was the easiest industry to start in these areas. But damn it, prostitution is the easiest thing for a woman to do who wants to earn a bob. It doesn’t mean it’s the best.”

Mr Kennedy described his comments as “offensive” and said: “Sir Iain is a well-known and colourful character on Skye. But clearly the comments he made regarding race in this speech are not acceptable.”

Mr Anwar said: “We live in a multi-cultural society and should welcome the contribution that all people make. If it was left to people like Iain Noble with their so-called ‘pure blood’, Scotland would be a very sad place. What makes society vibrant is the mix of people. It’s racists like Sir Iain Noble that should get the hell out of Scotland.”

A spokesman for the REC said: “It’s always very unfortunate when somebody who has weight and standing in a community says these kind of things. This is not what we expect in modern Scotland.”

Tony Andrews, chief executive of the Scottish Countryside Alliance, said Sir Iain would not have been allowed to speak at the conference if his outspoken views had been known.

He added: “He (Sir Iain) sounded like someone from the Nazi party of the 1930s. The remarks are anathema to me. They go against everything I stand for and everything the Scottish Countryside Alliance stands for.”

An SNH spokesman rejected Sir Iain’s attack on its employment policy and said: “We hire staff on the basis of qualifications not their ethnic origin. That’s not only common sense, but it is the law.”

After founding Noble Grossart, Scotland’s first modern merchant bank, in 1968, with Angus Grossart, Sir Iain left in 1972 and, eight years later, set up Noble & Co, an investment firm, which he left in 2000.

One of the most powerful and respected figures in the Scottish financial world and a member of the all-male Speculative Society, Sir Iain was declared bankrupt last year over £3500 of unpaid court costs. He was taken to court by Iain Robertson, a crofter on Skye, but said it was an embarrassing “bourach” or muddle.

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