Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National party, was speaking to Channel 4 News last month when he made a statement that infuriated Vaughan Gething.

"There is no such thing as a black Welshman," the BNP MEP for north-west England said. "You can have a black Briton; you can't have a black Welshman. Welsh is about people who lived in Wales since the end of the last ice age."

Gething, who is hoping to be the first black person elected to the Welsh assembly, says: "On that basis, most white people wouldn't qualify.

"It's quite clear that Nick Griffin just doesn't accept that black British people or black Welsh people are entitled to call themselves proper, full citizens of the country.

"And every time he tries to define what an ethnic Briton is, it's all bollocks. Because the definition he's searching for is really about saying 'white people who speak English'.

"There have been black Welsh people for centuries. Cardiff, in particular, has had centuries' worth of the port and people being brought there to work and settling there and being accepted as part of the community. All of my memories are from the UK. This really is my country."

Vaughan is a good friend of mine, I worked on his campaign when he was a councillor and I'm involved with his campaign as an AM candidate. I also know him through work, no escaping each other!

The Wales TUC conference in May was the first time I have ever heard him speak about his ethnicity and I've known him personally and politically for about 6 years. He's a very talented man. Take a look at the comments underneath the article. Pure racism and accusing him of playing the race card which he has genuinely never done.  Not nice stuff. And we wonder why we don't get a greater diversity of people in politics.  

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