Islamophobia report highlights Conservative party’s institutional failings

A highly critical independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the UK’s Conservative party has found institutional failings in how it handled complaints of anti-Muslim prejudice.

The report, led by Professor Swaran Singh, stated that comments by Boris Johnson in a newspaper column in 2018 likening women wearing burkas to “letter boxes” were “insensitive to Muslim communities”.

The prime minister told the inquiry that the remarks were down to his “parodic, satirical” nature of political writing and argued that journalists “need to use language freely”.

But stopping short of a full apology, Johnson said he was “sorry for any offence taken”, adding “would I use some of the offending language from my past writings today? Now that I am prime minister, I would not”.

The inquiry also criticised comments made by Lord Zac Goldsmith during his 2016 London mayoral campaign, which it alleged “played on anti-Muslim sentiments”.

Would I use some of the offending language from my past writings today? Now that I am prime minister, I would not

The inquiry reported that two-thirds of all complaints made to the party between 2015 and 2020 were in relation to allegations of anti-Muslim prejudice, the majority through social media. Singh, a professor of social and community psychiatry at Warwick university and a former commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, also found evidence of Islamophobia within local Tory associations.

“Judging by the extent of complaints and findings of misconduct by the party itself that relate to anti-Muslim words and conduct, anti-Muslim sentiment remains a problem within the party. This is damaging to the party, and alienates a significant section of society,” the report said.

The party has long struggled to attract ethnic minority voters, many of whom have been alienated by insensitive comments made by leading figures. In the 2019 election, 20 per cent of ethnic minority voters backed the Tories compared to 64 per cent for Labour.

However, the Tories are not the only UK political party to suffer from accusations of institutional racism. The Labour party has faced repeated accusations it did not take anti-Semitism seriously, particularly under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

His successor Keir Starmer has made it one of his priorities since taking over in April last year, suspending Corbyn from the party in October when he challenged the findings of a statutory investigation into anti-Semitism.

Amanda Milling, co-chair of the Tories, on Tuesday said all recommendations would be accepted and the party “must work harder to stamp out discrimination of all kinds”.

“On behalf of the Conservative party I would like to apologise to anyone who has been hurt by discriminatory behaviour of others or failed by our system,” she said.

Milling added the Conservatives would take a “zero-tolerance approach” to discrimination of any form and its complaints procedure would be immediately strengthened.

“It is clear that there have been failings in our complaints process and we will begin work on implementing the recommendations set out by the investigation. We will be publishing our plan to implement these recommendations in six weeks’ time.”

Singh was critical of the Conservative party’s complaints system, which he said was “in need of overhaul”. The team dealing with these issues is “under-resourced and inadequately trained”. He also criticised a lack of transparency in the complaints procedure, both at national and local level.

But the report said there was no evidence of institutional Islamophobia, an accusation levelled by Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a former Tory party chair. The report said there was no evidence that anti-Muslim complaints were treated any differently from other forms of discrimination.

In response to the report, Warsi tweeted: “The detail of this report is crucial and tells a story that headlines do not. Each section reveals a deep and embedded issue of a party at best unable and at worst unwilling to deal with the issue of racism.”

Singh said the report “should make for uncomfortable reading for the party” and hoped it would lead to reforms. “I hope the party will fully accept our recommendations and implement the changes needed in a transparent and timely manner.”

Welcoming the report’s publication, the former chancellor and home secretary Sajid Javid said political parties had a responsibility to stamp out discrimination. “I strongly urge the Conservative party to adopt the . . . investigation’s recommendations — unconditionally and in full,” he tweeted.

But Sajjad Karim, who served as a Tory MEP, said: “The manner in which this inquiry has been conducted means it is nothing but an attempt to whitewash deep-rooted issues out of sight.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, the UK’s watchdog on human rights, said: “We will assess the report alongside the investigation’s terms of reference and await the Conservative party’s response on the actions they will take.”

The report recommended that the Conservative party should address the failings in its procedures for handling complaints within six months, as well as improving training for all staff. It also said the party should ensure each local association has an individual trained in handling complaints.

Tory MP found to have breached parliament’s sexual misconduct policy

A Conservative politician is facing a six-week suspension and has had the whip removed, after an independent panel concluded that he breached parliament’s sexual misconduct policy. 

Rob Roberts, an MP for Delyn in North Wales who was elected in 2019, was accused of making “repeated and unwanted sexual advances” towards a member of staff who worked for him, the Independent Expert Panel said.

Read More:  Nigerian Governor Says 279 Kidnapped Schoolgirls Are Freed

The panel’s report, published on Tuesday, found there was “sufficient evidence” that sexual misconduct had taken place and that Roberts’s actions represented a “serious breach” of the behavioural code for MPs.

The panel, which was established in June 2020 with the aim of independently assessing reports of harassment and bullying within parliament, concluded that a six-week suspension was “proper and proportionate”, adding that his actions had the potential to “undermine the legitimacy and authority of the House of Commons”. 

The Roberts case is one of the first to be referred to the newly formed panel and MPs will be given an opportunity to vote on the suspension. Although Tory MPs, who have a large majority in the House of Commons, could — in theory — vote against the suspension, that is considered unlikely and Labour MPs on Thursday called for Roberts’s resignation.

The party has already apologised to his victim and said his behaviour was “inappropriate and unwarranted”.

Earlier this year, an inquiry into Roberts’s behaviour led by the Conservative Campaign Headquarters “strongly rebuked” his actions and ordered the MP to take safeguarding and social media training.

Following the publication of the report on Tuesday, the prime minister’s spokesperson confirmed the party had removed the voting whip from Roberts.

Roberts, who will now sit as an independent MP, said he recognised a “breach of trust” had occurred between him and his member of staff, adding: “I apologised at the time and do so again to the complainant but also to my colleagues, family and most importantly my constituents”.