BORIS Johnson has praised an aide who doubted the existence of institutional racism as a “brilliant thinker”.

The Prime Minister has been accused of waging a "culture war" by allowing Munira Mirza to play a major role in setting up his commission on racial disparity.

Mirza, the head of the No 10 policy unit, has previously questioned the existence of institutional racism and claimed previous inquiries had fostered a "culture of grievance" among anti-racism campaigners.

SNP MP Martin Docherty-Hughes, who noted the adviser was a former member of the Revolutionary Communist party, pressed the PM over her comments on racial inequality during a session in the Commons.

Johnson was asked if he agrees with his aide that previous inquiries on racism have “fostered a culture of grievance within minority communities”.

The Tory leader replied: “I am a huge admirer of Dr Munira Mirza who is a brilliant thinker about these issues and we are certainly going to proceed with an cross-governmental commission to look at racism and discrimination.”

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The Prime Minister announced the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities after a series of anti-racism protests on British streets triggered by the death in the US of George Floyd while in police custody.

Mirza’s involvement in establishing the body was condemned by shadow justice secretary David Lammy, who claimed her role undermined the commission.

Lammy previously led a review of the treatment of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups in the justice system for the Tory government under David Cameron and Theresa May.

He said: "My review was welcomed by all parties: (Jeremy) Corbyn, Cameron and May. But Munira Mirza went out of her way to attack it."

The Labour MP accused the Prime Minister of not listening to the Black Lives Matter campaign, and instead claimed "he's trying to wage a culture war".

Johnson’s official spokesman said the commission will be chaired by an "independent figure" who will be announced "in due course".

"Munira is the Prime Minister's head of policy, so you would expect her to be involved in setting this up," the spokesman said.

Mirza, who served as one of Johnson's deputy mayors while he ran London, used an article on the Spiked website to criticise the Lammy review in September 2017.

She said Lammy implied that BAME people did not trust the justice system because of "institutional bias and discrimination".

Mirza wrote: "Certainly there is a historic legacy here from previous decades, but it is equally possible that the current accusations of institutional racism by lobbyists and activists – a perception more than a reality – is behind the further corrosion of public trust."

In a Sun article that month, she said: "By appeasing the anti-racism lobby and affirming its culture of grievance, public institutions and business leaders are not making Britain a fairer place but harming the very people they aspire to help."

Johnson defended his commission on Monday, following criticism that action rather than another review is needed.

The Prime Minister, who also faced a backlash for saying he wanted to stop the "sense of" victimisation and discrimination, later acknowledged that racism "unquestionably" existed in the UK.

He told reporters in Downing Street: "The whole point of having a review is to look at the areas where people feel there's more that needs to be done. I think what we want to do is learn now very fast what fresh changes we need to make."

The new commission will report directly to Johnson and also be overseen by equalities minister Kemi Badenoch.