There is a level of acceptable racism within Britain that has always been there. It exists within most countries.

The problem we have here in the UK is that we are very quick to distant ourselves from racism because we sense we are able to rise above it.

Blaming other parties for the victory of Ukip is the easy way to explain what happened last week.

Let us just face the facts - Here in Britain we have a fair share of people who are classed as ‘closet racists’. And they hold extreme views about non-white British people.

It actually makes no difference if a British person is British by birth or holds citizenship. A brown, black and oriental face will always be that and nothing more.

You can integrate fully and completely disregard your culture but that will not bring you any closer to the ‘Britishness’ some people desire.

This racism goes all the way to the boardrooms of the some of the biggest organisations in the country. We simply do not as a nation want to admit this to ourselves.

The BNP were classed on the whole as thugs who many British people reject.

Whilst voting for the BNP for any middle class white person may have been quite distasteful…voting for Ukip is not.

This is the acceptable face of racism that is quite dangerous. This is the racism that slowly seeps into the national consciousness.

Now, Ukip and some of their supporters will be quick to distance themselves from racist ideologies. But it is quite difficult when your whole ethos is built upon ‘Britishness’ and being how being British means behaving in one way and not another.

Yes, I would be the first to say that Britain is the most tolerant country in Europe. I have always said this for many years and been quick to challenge extremists within my own religion.

But it is time we stopped kidding ourselves.

One of the biggest reasons for this rise in Ukip has been the fact that sections of the mainstream media also believe that they are not racist too. They actually think they are doing the country a favour by pointing out lies about minorities.

All they are doing is ensuring that people think it is okay to blame specific issues on a minority of people.

In a hundred years time there may well be a level of embarrassment about how and what was reported. Our grandchildren and their grandchildren will have access to these stories at the click of a button.

And they may not like what they see.