LONDON, Feb 7 The daughter of former British premier Margaret Thatcher called a French tennis star a “froggy golliwog guy”, a BBC presenter said on Saturday, in the first full account of how a sensitive race row flared.

Carol Thatcher was this week dropped from her roving reporter role on “The One Show”, the main BBC1 television channel's daily prime time topical programme, over the comment.

The full details of her off-air remarks have been shrouded in mystery.

But writing in Saturday's Sun newspaper, co-presenter of “The One Show” Adrian Chiles said the comments referred to French tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

“Carol was in full flow, talking about who'd win the Australian Open (tennis championship),” Chiles told the paper.

“ 'You also have to consider the frogs,' she said. 'You know, that froggy golliwog guy'.” “Frogs” is a common British insult for French people.

Chiles added that Thatcher went on to say “ 'If I was Prince Harry, I'd get shot for saying that'.” Prince Harry, the second son of heir to the throne Prince Charles and the late princess Diana, was heavily criticised last month after being caught on film referring to an army colleague as a “Paki”.

The “golliwog” comments have provoked intense debate in Britain about whether they are racist.

They come as the BBC, Britain's public service broadcaster, battles to recover from a major row in October over offensive remarks by top presenters Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand.

Ross was suspended for 12 weeks for the remarks about Brand having slept with the granddaughter of Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs, while Brand resigned from his BBC radio show.

In a fresh controversy on Friday, the presenter of top-rating BBC television car show “Top Gear”, Jeremy Clarkson, apologised after calling British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a “one-eyed Scottish idiot”.

The word “golliwog”, referring to a black doll-like character, was once widely used including as the emblem of a leading make of British jam, but in recent decades has been dropped for being racist.—AFP