Commissioners who released the names of MPs who signed a controversial race pledge have unleashed a storm of protest.

The arguments for and against the name and shame saga are still raging and the Commission for Racial Equality has been accused of inciting hatred. Danny Harding reports.

Gurbux Singh had always taken a keen interest in race issues ever since his days at Sussex University in the Seventies.

He used to play football with the university team and lived on campus in Brighton and in Poynings during his time there.

He studied political science and was highly thought of by tutors for his sharp mind.

Mr Singh soon worked his way up the local government ladder following a stint as a housing officer for the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).

Never could he have imagined he would spark such a welter of criticism after becoming its chairman.

He has been on the receiving end of a stinging attack after publishing the names of the MPs who signed a pledge saying they would avoid using racist language in the run-up to the election.

There has been criticism of the agency from Tories who have accused it of collusion with the Government.

Press reports have accused the CRE of inciting racial hatred and said it should be reformed because of its "meddling" in politics.

Mr Singh, 50, who also sits on the Government's race relations forum, has been at the centre of the storm.

He plunged the body right into the heart of party politics when the names of those who signed were released.

The move meant those who did not sign up were immediately accused of being racist. Some Tories, including shadow chancellor Michael Portillo, have refused to sign up.

Mid Sussex MP Nicholas Soames joined the attack on the CRE, describing it as a "pointless" organisation.

He believes the pledge, called a compact, is effectively a stunt engineered by the Labour Party and the CRE.

He said: "I regard all this as an utterly worthless and pointless exercise. This is a stunt generated by the Labour Party and the CRE between them. I have fought five general elections and in none of them has race ever played a part including when I was an MP for Crawley.

"Race relations are very good in this country and for the CRE to make race an issue for the elections is lamentable. They are a pointless organisation."

Eastbourne MP Nigel Waterson is one of those who agreed not to play the race card at the election.

He said: "I found the contents of the CRE compact acceptable when our party chairman Michael Ancram wrote to me about it last month and that is why I am adding my name to it.

"But I must make it clear that I will continue to voice strong feelings on the issue of asylum, which genuinely concerns many of my constituents. Labour would like debate on their asylum failure stifled. Britain has more asylum applicants than any other European country and it costs us almost a billion pounds to support them, more than double the amount four years ago.

"The Liberal Democrats, of course, tried to report the Conservatives to the CRE when we raised legitimate concerns about bogus asylum seekers and local Liberal Democrats have attacked me for doing the same.

"I will continue to campaign fearlessly against the abuse of the asylum system while fully supporting the rights of genuine refugees to remain in this country.

"As William Hague has said, Britain must be a safe haven, not a soft touch.

"I will continue to highlight the fact that ministers have no idea how many asylum seekers there are living in Eastbourne because until they do know they cannot begin to solve the problem."

The Crawley-based Sussex Racial Equality Council said it backed the commission.

Vicky Kennedy, spokeswoman for the CRE, said: "We are not going to label people who do not sign up, we just initiated this, we are not demanding people do this or that. We are not going to label people who do not sign up to this as racist. The whole point was for MPs and their parties to take responsibility.

"This is very much open and in the public domain and that is why we made their names public.

"We want people to think very carefully, to encourage free speech as long as it does not have a negative impact on ethnic minorities in Britain.

"The CRE does not have a legal remit and ultimately people may back these principles but there is nothing we can do and they will be judged by the people."