UK (Commonwealth) _ The largest Muslim organization in the UK has written to the Conservative Party requesting an examination of allegations of “structural Islamophobia” among its members.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said that following “a week of inflammatory statements and Islamophobia from senior figures in the party,” it wrote a letter to Richard Holden, the head of the Conservative Party, on Sunday.
The organization cited remarks made by the former deputy head of the Tory party, Lee Anderson, who was removed after receiving a lot of backlash for saying on Friday that “Islamists” had “got control” of London Mayor Sadiq Khan. It also featured statements made this week by Liz Truss, the former prime minister, and Sueella Braverman, the former home secretary.
In a correspondence sent to Mr. Holden, Zara Mohammed, the MCB secretary general, expressed, “Our belief is that the Islamophobia within the party is systemic, accepted by the leadership, and accepted by large segments of the membership.”
The letter denounced the Conservatives for not revoking Mr. Anderson’s whip until after he declined to provide an apology for his anti-Muslim tirade on GB News, which Mr. Khan described as “Islamophobic, racist” and “fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred.”
After speaking with the Chief Whip over the phone on Saturday, Mr. Anderson—who served as the deputy Tory chairman until last month—stated, “I realize the predicament that I have placed both he and the Prime Minister in regarding my comments.” I acknowledge that under these conditions, they were left with no choice except to suspend the whip.
The largest Muslim organization in Britain has said that the Conservative Party has to look at “structural Islamophobia” within its ranks.
The suspension of MP Lee Anderson and an article by Suella Braverman in The Telegraph, wherein the former home secretary said that “the Islamists, the extremists and the antisemites” were to blame for the party’s anti-Muslim sentiment, prompted the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) to assert that anti-Muslim sentiment was “on public display this week.”
After Anderson refused to apologize for remarks he made at a Friday night GB News broadcast, in which he claimed that “Islamists” controlled London and its mayor, Sadiq Khan, he had the Conservative whip removed on Saturday. The words made by the Ashfield MP, according to Khan, were “pouring fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred.”
MCB secretary General Zara Mohammed that an inquiry be started in a letter to Tory Party chairman Richard Holden. She also stated, “Our view is that the Islamophobia in the party is institutional, tolerated by the leadership, and seen as acceptable by great swathes of the party membership.”
Leaders, particularly those in politics, have the power to create a narrative and an agenda. They also contribute to Islamophobic hate crimes, which, according to Tell Mama, an organization that tracks Islamophobia, has tripled.
“Ignoring these issues is not an option; it is imperative.”
According to Tell Mama, over the four months of October 7–February 7 of this year, there were 2,010 instances of anti–Muslim hate, as opposed to 600 incidences during the same period last year. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities provided assistance for the initiative when it was first introduced in 2012.
Mohammed said that it was noteworthy that Anderson was suspended only after he declined to apologize and not after his original comments. “We also note that the Prime Minister and the remainder of the Cabinet stayed silent, and the whip was only withdrawn after broad condemnation across the board,” she continued.
The letter said that Braverman’s Telegraph piece followed a “well-trodden Islamophobic path” and used antisemitic clichés. The MCB, which has affiliations to over 500 mosques, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations, filed a dossier including 300 accusations of Tory Party Islamophobia to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission back in 2020.
A representative for the Conservative Party stated: “There was no proof of racial prejudice in the Conservative Party, according to an inquiry and independent study undertaken over a number of years by Professor Swaran Singh. After issuing a statement denouncing antisemitism that omitted to address accusations of Islamophobia made against the Conservative Party, RISHI Sunak has come under fire.
