Harun Nasrullah
Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is taking no action against Tory MP Mark Spencer after an official investigation was unable to determine whether he told colleague Nusrat Ghani that her Muslim faith played a role in her sacking.
The inquiry conducted by the PM’s ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, was critical of Spencer’s actions as chief whip, particularly his “shortcomings” in handling of the Kashmiri-born MPs’ allegations.
However, Sir Magnus cleared Spencer, now the Environment Minister, of breaching the Ministerial Code. Ghani, the Conservative MP for Wealden in East Sussex, claimed she was told her “Muslimness” was “raised as an issue” when she lost her ministerial job in the transport department during the February 2020 reshuffle.
The Tory chief whip at the time, Spencer, identified himself as the individual Ghani was referring to, however, he claimed the allegation was “completely false” in a tweet. In a letter dated April 6, responding to Sir Laurie’s findings, Sunak wrote, ‘In the absence of clear evidence, it would not be right to take further action.’
Ghani, now a minister at the business department, said, “There is no criticism or doubt expressed regarding my version of events,” she said of Sir Laurie’s report, adding that Spencer would have to explain the report’s criticism of his “shortcomings.”
Ghani’s allegations centre on a mini cabinet reshuffle in 2020 during Boris Johnson’s tenure as prime minister.
Speaking to The Sunday Times on January 22, 2022, Ghani claimed , “I was told that at the reshuffle meeting in Downing Street, Muslimness’ was raised as an ‘issue’, that my ‘Muslim women minister’ status was making colleagues uncomfortable, and that there were concerns ‘that I wasn’t loyal to the party as I didn’t do enough to defend the party against Islamophobia allegations’.
“It was very clear to me that the whips and No 10 were holding me to a higher threshold of loyalty than others because of my background and faith.In the following weeks, I was informed that if I persisted in raising this, I would be ostracised by colleagues, and my career and reputation would be destroyed.”
She added, “It was like being punched in the stomach. I felt humiliated and powerless.”
Spencer, MP for Sherwood, responded on Twitter late in the evening on January 22. He said: “To ensure other Whips are not drawn into this matter, I am identifying myself as the person Nusrat Ghani MP has made claims about this evening.
“These accusations are completely false, and I consider them to be defamatory. I have never used those words attributed to me.”
Spencer added: “It is disappointing that when this issue was raised before, Ms. Ghani declined to refer the matter to the Conservative Party for a formal investigation.”
He said the claims relate to a meeting in March 2020. “When Ms Ghani raised them she was invited to use the formal CCHQ complaint procedure. She declined to do so,” Spencer tweeted.
The allegations triggered an inquiry into the claim last year, initially led by Johnson’s ethics adviser, Lord Geidt.
Sir Laurie said Ghani and Spencer had “firm but very different recollections” of what he had told her in meetings.
The “differing evidence” presented, he added, meant he could not conclude with “sufficient confidence what was or was not said”.
Sir Laurie criticised “shortcomings” in Spencer’s conduct after the claims emerged, including failing to mention a March 2020 meeting he had with Ghani ahead of a meeting with Johnson that year to discuss the claims.
Sir Laurie said Spencer “has indicated that the omission was an oversight,” but it was “not helpful.”
The adviser also said he should have “taken more care” before tweeting, inaccurately, that Ghani’s claims had been dismissed during a separate investigation into Islamophobia within the Conservative Party by an academic.
Nusrat Ghani & Mark Spencer (UK Parliament)
