BURNLEY man Shahid Malik delivered a message of hope for the riot-torn town when he was a guest of Prime Minister Tony Blair at a Downing Street summer reception last night.

Shahid rubbed shoulders with ministers and senior Labour Party workers at the garden party and gave a clear message to guests -- Burnley is fighting back.

The 33-year-old son of Burnley Deputy Mayor Rafique Malik and a member of Labour's powerful National Executive Committee, said his aim with everyone he met was to talk up Burnley and dispel the myths about the town, thrown up in the wake of the recent troubles.

The meeting came on the day Home Office minister Angela Eagle told the Muslim Council of Britain, representing Muslims across the country, that the Government would not be holding its own public inquiry into the recent distrubances in Burnley, Oldham, Bradford and Stoke.

She said a ministerial group was already looking into the reasons for the riots.

Shahid, who was himself injured by riot police when he tried to intervene in a dispute during the disturbances, said: "I made clear my belief that the problems were in the past and there was a real will to ensure there would be no repeat in the future.

"A positive message was critically important and I did what I could to deliver it," he said.

"It is very important to convince people outside the area that things in Burnley are not as bad as they may believe from some of the media coverage."

Shahid, chief executive of a multi-million pound regeneration company in London, said he had been overwhelmed by more than 200 messages of support from well-wishers in the wake of the Burnley troubles.

"All but one of them were extremely positive and that gives me great heart for the future."

He welcomed the fact that Burnley, unlike some towns which had also faced disturbances, had acted quickly to set up a task force to investigate all aspects of the town's problems and seek out solutions.

"It says a lot about the determination to put these troubles behind us," he added.