DAVID CAMERON has come under pressure to sack a Tory who praised the leadership of Ian Smith, the white minority leader of Rhodesia, who died last week.

Richard Willis, a councillor in Reading, Berkshire, who is on the list of Conservative candidates for the next general election, said on a website that Smith had been a “great and wise” leader whose rule had been “benign and successful”.

The comments by Willis, who is chief of staff for local MP Rob Wilson, follow the departure of another Tory candidate after he made comments about race.

Nigel Hastilow quit earlier this month as candidate for Halesowen & Rowley Regis, West Midlands, after he claimed that many in his constituency believed “Enoch [Powell] was right” in his 1968 “rivers of blood” speech warning about immigration.

Yesterday ministers called on Cameron to sack Willis for his comments about Smith, regarded by many as a white supremacist.

In spite of international sanctions and opprobrium, Smith held power for 14 years after declaring independence from Britain in 1965.

When he was forced out in 1979, after a civil war with black nationalists, Robert Mugabe took control, leading to the creation of Zimbabwe.

In comments on the politicalbetting.com website Willis defended Smith’s record and insisted there was nothing “inherently evil” about the all-white administration.

He wrote: “I refuse to submit to the prevalent ideology that a government that delivers stability and economic success is inherently evil just because the elite were of a racial minority. Rhodesia was the breadbasket for southern Africa under his wise leadership.” The statements, penned under the tag “Rik W”, drew a furious reaction from other users, who condemned him for supporting a “vile white supremacist”. Willis derided the criticism as “silly leftist responses”.

Yesterday he stood by the comments. Although apartheid was “indefensible”, Smith’s Rhodesian Front had been “infinitely” preferable to Mugabe’s regime.

He said: “You cannot judge governments of the past by 21st century standards. Ian Smith led a government that actually had people migrating to the country.”

Peter Hain, the cabinet minister who led the campaign against apartheid in the 1970s, said: “As someone who campaigned actively against Ian Smith’s racist, white minority tyranny I am disgusted by these comments. Yet again we see racism remains embedded in the Tory grassroots.”

Paul Burstow, a Liberal Democrat MP, said the remarks proved Cameron had not reformed the Tories. “This shows the underlying nasty side of Conservative party,” he added.

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