Nigel Farage has dismissed criticism of the lack of diversity in Ukip 's manifesto by claiming there was a 'half black ' party spokesman featured prominently - and 'one fully black person ' . The Ukip leader made the remarks after being asked at his manifesto launch last week to justify the scarcity of black and Asian faces in the Ukip manifesto . It includes several photographs of the party 's top team although it was suggested the only black face in the document appeared on a page about overseas aid . Scroll down for video . Nigel Farage has dismissed criticism of the lack of diversity in Ukip 's manifesto by claiming there was a 'half black ' party spokesman featured prominently - and 'one fully black person ' The question provoked noisy barracking , including from a group of black and Asian candidates attending the launch . Mr Farage said the premise was wrong , with the picture of the party 's immigration spokesman Steven Woolfe ignored . He told Magic Radio : 'Well firstly there was one fully black person . ' Mr Farage added : 'There was another one of our leading spokesman who is half black and that did n't get a mention . And he featured very prominently on page six . So the premise was wrong . ' I thought what happened was really interesting . There was a journalist from one of our leading daily newspapers who made the comment you know , there 's only one black . 'And what happened was that there was an eruption in the room as our black and ethnic minority candidates stood up and looked at this guy in a pretty hostile way . ' The Ukip leader - trying on hats at a campaign stop in Canterbury , Kent , today - made the remarks after being asked at his manifesto launch last week to justify the scarcity of black and Asian faces in the Ukip manifesto . The Ukip manifesto included several photographs of the party 's top team although it was suggested the only black face in the document appeared on a page about overseas aid . Mr Farage added : 'What they were saying was we 're just about sick to death of the sneering media class trying to make Ukip out to be something completely other than it is . 'We 're a non-racist , non-sectarian political party but we do n't have all female quotas , we do n't have all black quotas , we treat everybody as being equal . ' I think we 're a multi-racial society . I think the multicultural society is a much more contentious point and perhaps that 's the bit that may have gone slightly wrong . 'Over 10 % of our candidates come from BME backgrounds . We 're probably more diverse in our membership than some of the other parties who talk about all of this in a sort of 'holier than thou ' way . ' Mr Farage said the party 's immigration spokesman Steven Woolfe - who has dual heritage - was 'half black ' The Ukip manifesto launch was overshadowed by a row over the number of black and Asian people included , after a journalist pointed out that the only image showed someone from an ethnic minority - an African woman in the overseas aid section . Ukip has also proposed to amend the smoking ban to allow pubs and clubs to open smoking rooms . The manifesto states these rooms would have to be properly ventilated and physically separate from non-smoking areas . Mr Farage said : 'There are 76 pages in our manifesto and that is one little sentence tucked away in there . 'It 's about freedom of choice that 's the point . Thirty pubs a week are closing and a lot of them particularly in built up areas where they have n't got a big food trade . 'They rely on people going into the pub at five , six o'clock after a hard day 's work and a lot of those people might not smoke all day but they want a smoke with their drink that evening . ' He added of his party 's policy : 'Would that burden the health service ? Well let 's put it like this : the NHS says , that smoking related illnesses cost it £2 billion a year , all right ? Tobacco tax is £12billion a year so I do n't quite buy the argument . '
Ukip leader asked to justify lack of black and Asian faces in manifesto . The party has been accused by the Electoral Commission of failing to include enough minority ethnic candidates on its list for next year's general election.