A Tory MP has hit back at campaigners who want him to pay reparations to Barbados over slave deaths at a Barbados plantation his ancestors ran from 1640 to 1836.
They are demanding South Dorset MP Richard Drax pay money to the people of Jamaica and Barbados for damages done by slavery at the 621-acre estate worth an estimated £4.7million he inherited.
Slavery at the plantation ended in 1836 and it has been operated as a farm by the family since, passing ownership of the down through the generations.
Mr Drax said: I am keenly aware of the slave trade in the West Indies, and the role my very distant ancestor played in it is deeply, deeply regrettable.