Race chief may quit in row over Brown's all white Cabinet

The head of Britain's equal rights watchdog has accused Gordon Brown of appointing too few ethnic minorities and women to his Cabinet, provoking a furious row about sex and race discrimination.

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, also criticised the Prime Minister after he appointed two Muslims as Ministers but failed to give them ministerial salaries.

Mr Phillips issued the warning in a telephone call to No 10 last week and threatened he would quit his high-profile role unless the Government took the issue of equality seriously.

Following Mr Brown's reshuffle at the end of last month, every full member of the Cabinet is now white, whereas during the final five years of the Blair regime there had always been at least one black person at the Government's top table.

Mr Brown also lowered the number of women Cabinet members from eight to five.

A Whitehall source said: "Trevor is concerned not just about the composition of the Cabinet, it is the whole way the issue of equality in Government appears to have been overlooked."

Another source said: "He has been hopping mad about this and told Gordon that his position might become unsustainable."

Mr Phillips expressed concern that neither Shahid Malik nor Sadiq Khan, promoted as Britain's first Muslim Ministers, will receive a ministerial salary.

The criticism of Mr Brown comes after Tory leader David Cameron went out of his way to promote ethnic minorities in his own frontbench reshuffle.

Sayeeda Warsi was appointed as community cohesion spokesman - despite not being an MP. The party's only black MP, Adam Afriyie, became shadow skills minister.

The Conservatives also now boast two openly gay members in the Shadow Cabinet, while there are none in Mr Brown's Cabinet. A spokeswoman for the Commission said last night: "There has been some private correspondence and conversations between the CEHR and the Government."

Former Labour MP Oona King rushed to the Prime Minister's defence: "These criticisms of Gordon are a complete travesty. As someone who's gone round the country with him during the past two months, I've seen at first hand the passionate interest he takes in issues affecting women and minority groups."

The Cabinet was left without a single black Minster after Baroness Amos, Leader of the Lords, quit to become a European Union Africa envoy.

Fewer women are full Cabinet members, but four more women than under Blair will attend Cabinet when deemed necessary.

The new PM has promoted Jacqui Smith to Home Secretary. However, other women left the Cabinet, including Tessa Jowell - demoted to Olympics Minister - Patricia Hewitt and Margaret Beckett.

A Downing Street source added: "Since he became PM, Gordon Brown has put more women round the table at Cabinet meetings than ever before.

"He's also brought in the first female Home Secretary, the first black Attorney General, the first Asian female minister, and the first two Muslim ministers."