Tony Blair and Gordon Brown mounted a diplomatic offensive to protect Britain’s reputation in India and the sub-continent yesterday as a television racism row grew into an international crisis.

India threatened to make a formal protest about the racist bullying of the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on the reality show Celebrity Big Brother.

Effigies of the show’s organisers were burnt and in Britain there were 22,000 complaints to Ofcom. The Channel 4 programme had become the most complained about in the broadcasting watchdog’s history.

Mr Brown, who is on his first visit to India, described the comments on the show as offensive and condemned anything that harmed Britain’s reputation as a tolerant country.

Mr Blair said little initially. Questioned in the Commons, he said that MPs should oppose racism in all its forms. But after protests poured in he authorised a No 10 statement saying that Britain would not tolerate racism in any way. His spokesman said: “What clearly is to be regretted and countered is if there is any perception abroad that in any way we tolerate racism in this country.

“What the response to the programme has shown is precisely the opposite — that there is no level of toleration in this country for anything which, rightly or wrongly, is perceived to be racist. The message should go out loud and clear that we are a tolerant country and we will not tolerate racism in any way.”

The spokesman emphasised that Mr Blair had not seen the programmes.

Channel 4 claimed that the contested remarks were not racist but the result of a “cultural clash” between housemates. A spokesman said: “The nature of the show often includes incidents where conflicts arise and housemates are encouraged to resolve issues among themselves.”

Channel 4 promised to “step in” if it identified racist abuse within the house. The latest abuse of Ms Shetty was on the front page of Indian newspapers and widely covered by radio and television news.Ms Shetty’s mother told The Times that she was saddened at the distasteful treatment of her daughter by fellow contestants.

Sundanda Shetty described her 31-year-old daughter as a “strong kid” who would bounce back by handling the situation with dignity and adhering to the strong Indian family values with which she was brought up.

“We were saddened that she was crying on TV,” Mrs Shetty said. “It is not a happy feeling to see your daughter crying. We have not seen that often in our home. She has always been loved and respected.”

At first the Chancellor — no fan of the programme — was reluctant to be drawn in, but as the day wore on the situation worsened. The Indian Government said that it was preparing to make a formal complaint. Mr Brown was warned that it could damage relations. Then he was mobbed by Indian journalists demanding a response. By the evening demonstrators in the city of Patna had burnt an effigy marked “Big Brother”.

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