Exclusive: Tory Party ‘In Denial’ Over Islamophobia, Anti-Racism Report Finds

The Conservatives are “signalling Islamophobia is acceptable” in the party by ignoring anti-Muslim sentiment among their ranks, a leading anti-racism charity has warned.

Hope Not Hate’s 2019 State of Hate report will accuse the Tories of being “in denial” and failing to take seriously complaints about both activists and high-profile politicians. 

Party chairman Brandon Lewis said in June Islamophobia was “utterly unacceptable” as he ordered Tory associations to compile reports about complaints in their area. 

Party chiefs have so far refused to launch an inquiry, despite demands from the Muslim Council of Britain, Tory peer Baroness Warsi and Mohamed Amin of the Conservative Muslim Forum. 

In August, Lewis launched an internal inquiry into the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson following comments he made in a national newspaper comparing women in burqas to “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”. 

A panel found Johnson’s comparison, which he made in a Daily Telegraph article to argue against a face-veil ban, was “respectful and tolerant” and that the MP was entitled to use “satire”.

Calls made in May for a broader, independent probe were rejected by vice-chairwoman Kemi Badenoch as having a “political motive”, despite Warsi, a former chair of the party, saying prejudice was “very widespread”. 

A spokeswoman for the Conservatives said the party takes swift action when reports are made.

She said: “When cases have been reported centrally, the Conservative Party has consistently acted decisively, suspending or expelling those involved and launching an immediate investigation.”

There have been several instances of Islamophobia in recent months, the report underlines, including:

• MP Bob Blackman sharing a story with the headline “Muslim Somali sex gang say raping white British children ‘part of their culture’.” Blackman also hosted the anti-Muslim activist Tapan Ghosh – who calls all Muslims “jihadis” and has defended the genocide of the Rohingya community in Burma – in parliament.

• MP Michael Fabricant posting a cartoon showing Sadiq Khan’s head on an inflatable balloon, engaged in a sex act with a pig. Khan is a Muslim, and eating pork is a sin in Islam.

• A number of MPs and councillors found to be members of a pro-Tory Facebook group littered with anti-Muslim comments such as “we should ban Islam”, it is “a threat to our country” and a “mental illness”. The MPs, who included Jacob Rees-Mogg and Andrew Rosindell, claimed they had no knowledge of it.

• Shaun Bailey, the Tories’ candidate for London Mayor, was found to have retweeted a picture accusing Sadiq Khan of being “anti-British” and calling him “mad mullah Khan of Londonistan”. 

• Numerous suspensions of Tory councillors over Islamophobia, some of whom have been reinstated with little action taken 

There was also criticism of the 2016 London mayoral campaign as “dog whistle politics” after Zac Goldsmith’s campaign made baseless claims that Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan supported “extremists”. 

Concerns have also been raised about a number of anti-Muslim posters coalescing around groups claiming to support high-profile Conservatives, including one on Facebook called the “Jacob Rees-Mogg Supporters’ Group”. 

There is no suggestion that Rees-Mogg himself is connected to the group.