Prime Minister Boris Johnson is accused of breaking his election promise to launch an investigation Islamophobia within his party.(Credit: Chatham House/Flickr Commons)
Hamed Chapman
A new dossier of over 300 cases of alleged Islamophobia among members of the Conservative Party has been submitted by The Muslim Council of Britain to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Details include claims about Tory Members of Parliament, party members, councillors and advisers to Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, that follow the failure of the equalities watchdog to launch an investigation last year.
The Government also reneged to hold its official inquiry pledged before last December’s general election.
Muslim Council of Britain Secretary General, Harun Rashid Khan, said that with the latest dossier of evidence, he was once again formally requesting an investigation into the Conservative Party over a potential breach in its obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
“Regrettably, no action has been taken by yourselves to date; the Conservative Party has reneged on its promise to launch an independent inquiry into Islamophobia and there have been hundreds of more instances of prejudice and discrimination against Muslims in the party and by the party,” Khan said.
“Whilst we initially estimated that these incidents were occurring on a weekly basis, it appears that in fact, it’s much more often than this. This submission alone contains details of over 300 individuals, either elected representatives and members of the Conservative Party, or its advisers, who have engaged with, made or endorsed Islamophobic, anti-Muslim or anti-Islam comments directly.”
The main pillars of the case include that no action has been taken against Tory MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates and as well as the 2016 London Mayoral candidate when they were engaged in Islamophobia that demonstrates “blatant acceptance of Islamophobia at the highest levels of the Party.”
The scale of the problem of Islamophobia was “widespread, institutional and systemic, starting at the very top with the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, through to MPs, councillors and Party members.” Even the atmosphere of hostility against Muslim Conservative Party members Islamophobia against Muslim members of the Party has been tolerated, it said.
Naz Shah MP, Shadow Women and Equalities Minister, said it was “no surprise the Tories are not taking action against this vile bigotry.
Boris Johnson himself described Islamophobia as a ‘natural reaction’, and there was a 375 per cent increase in hate crime towards Muslim women after he described them as ‘letter-boxes’ and ‘bank robbers.’”
“Johnson’s rhetoric has emboldened the far right to openly abuse and attack Muslims and our communities across the country, and by refusing to take action, the Tories are fanning the flames of this hatred and division in our society.”
“The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for the Conservative Party (or indeed all bodies) to discriminate against its members, prospective members or guests based on their religion or ethnicity.”
