A current serving Conservative Party Minister and other “very senior members of the Conservative Party” have been accused of directing Islamophobic comments towards a Muslim Tory colleague, it has emerged.
Speaking to the BBC regarding the Conservative Party’s latest decision to suspend numerous party members over alleged Islamophobic social media posts, former Tory MEP, Sajjad Karim, said it wasn’t just rank and file members who were guilty of Islamophobia, stating:
“I have experienced conversations taking place with Islamophobic content directly about me, being conducted by very senior members of the Conservative Party – in fact parliamentarians, one of whom is in fact a serving Minister at this moment in time.”
Karim went on to state that:
“Ultimately, this is about values, and if we allow Islamophobia, or any other form of discrimination, to go unchecked, what we are doing actually is undermining our own values.”
“That is going to lead to a very different sort of society developing in the coming decades, and that is not something I think most Brits aspire to.”
The former Tory MEP did not name the Tory Minister in question, but said that he would provide the information to the Conservative Party for them to investigate.
Responding to the accusations, Labour MP Naz Shah called on the Tory Party to take urgent action, stating:
“Whoever [the Tory Minister] is, they are not fit to serve as an MP, let alone as a government minister. […] Boris Johnson must act, find out who it is, and sack them.”
Numerous Tory members have been suspended for alleged Islamophobia in the past year, and the party are now investigating another 20 cases which had been highlighted in the past few days.
During this summer’s Tory leadership campaign, Boris Johnson pledged to hold an investigation into the problem of Islamophobia within the party.
However, after becoming Prime Minister, Johnson rowed back on the promise, stating that the investigation would only be a general inquiry “into all types of prejudice and discrimination including anti-Semitism“.
