LONDON: Islamophobia is tolerated within the UK’s ruling Conservative Party, its former Chairwoman Baroness Warsi has said.
She made the comments on X after senior Conservatives were drawn into a row over Islamophobia in the party.
On Friday, Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson told GB News that “Islamists” had “got control” of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, sparking a row and prompting criticism from the Labour Party and some Conservatives.
“I don’t actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London … He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates,” Anderson said.
When pressed on those comments, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden on Sunday declined to say whether what Anderson said was Islamophobic.
Anderson did not intend for his comments to be Islamophobic and would have avoided being suspended if he had apologized, Dowden added.
Warsi described Dowden’s responses as “disturbing,” “mealy mouthed” and “evasive.”
She wrote: “Muslims are not just fair game but convenient electoral campaign fodder. When we can’t even call out the obvious, when it’s so blatant, and can’t find the words to condemn, we have lost all authority on being antiracist.
“No ifs, no buts, no caveats — we rightly don’t allow Labour to acquiesce in antisemitism, why do we think we can on Islamophobia? We must end this hierarchy of racism and stop the hypocrisy.”
The Muslim Council of Britain has also raised concerns about Islamophobia within the Conservative Party.
The MCB wrote to Conservative Chairman Richard Holden calling for an investigation based on fears that Islamophobia is “institutional, tolerated by the leadership and seen as acceptable by great swathes of the party membership.”
