London: A British lawmaker of the ruling Conservative party stirred outrage on Monday by using racist language at a think tank event on the implications of Brexit on the financial services sector.

Anne Marie Morris, who campaigned to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum, described her view of what could be done to ensure a good exit deal with the EU in the two years allowed for talks. She then continued:

‘And then we get to the real nigger in the wood pile which is, in two years, what will happen if there is no deal.’

She said later she apologised unreservedly for any offence caused. ‘The comment was entirely unintentional.’ Politicans, lawyers and senior city figures had gathered at the East India Club in London to hear the presentation of a blueprint for the financial services sector post-Brexit.

Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrat party, said he was shocked and that she should immediately be excluded from the Conservative parliamentary group.

‘Every hour they leave her in place is a stain on them and the so called ‘compassionate conservatism’ they supposedly espouse.’

Deputies of the main Labour opposition party echoed the call that she be excluded from her parliamentary group or, in parliamentary parlance, stripped of the whip.

The phrase is believed to be rooted in slavery in the United States. It came to be used to describe something unexpected or wrong but is now generally viewed with disdain as racist.