Boris Johnson’s comments about women wearing the burka look like “letterboxes” and “bank robbers” gave an impression that the Tories are “insensitive” to Muslims, an inquiry into Islamophobia in the party has found.
In a pointed message to the Prime Minister the review said the leadership of the Conservative Party “ought to set a good example for appropriate behaviours and language”.
The report , led by Professor Swaran Singh, concluded that high profile cases such as Johnson’s “give the impression to many that the party and its leadership are insensitive to Muslim communities”.
The report acknowledged that “anti-Muslim sentiment remains a problem” within the Conservative Party.
The inquiry found that anti-Muslim sentiment in the Tory party was seen at local association and individual levels.
However, as critics of the process feared, claims of “institutional racism” were not borne out by evidence of the way complaints were handled.
The Prime Minister was cleared by a majority on an independent panel over a complaint he broke the party’s code of conduct following a Daily Telegraph column in 2018 which described Muslim women who wear the burqa as looking like “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”.
The Singh Investigation report said several interviewees who spoke to the inquiry considered Johnson’s language “discriminatory and unacceptable”.
Johnson said he was “sorry for any offence taken” over his journalism and told Prof Singh’s investigation: “Would I use some of the offending language from my past writings today? Now that I am Prime Minister, I would not.”
In a stinging conclusion the report said: “While this could be considered leading by example, the investigation would like to emphasise that using measured and appropriate language should not be a requirement solely for senior people, but ought to be expected throughout the Conservative Party.”
The investigation also examined the controversial and unsuccessful mayoral campaign Zac Goldsmith – now Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park – ran in London against Sadiq Khan in 2016, during which he accused his Muslim Labour rival of associating with extremists.
The report said Lord Goldsmith “accepts poor judgement in the way his campaign was conducted but forcefully denies harbouring anti-Muslim sentiments or using such sentiments for political advantage”.
Prof Singh said: “I’m not saying that the party leadership is insensitive to Muslim communities. I’m saying that the perception is very strong.”
Singh, a former commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, led the inquiry established by the Tory party following a series of allegations about Islamophobic behaviour.
He concluded: "While the party leadership claims a ‘zero tolerance approach’ to all forms of discrimination, our findings show that discriminatory behaviours occur, especially in relation to people of Islamic faith.”
There was no evidence that complaints related to Islam are treated differently from those related to other forms of discrimination, nor did the panel find evidence of attempts to pressure or interfere with the handling of individual complaints.
But Prof Singh said the complaints process was “clunky, cumbersome and slow, and not transparent”.
The review process has been regarded with scepticism by some critics, with the Muslim Council of Britain warning it would be a whitewash.
The report called on the Tories to introduce sweeping changes to the complaints process, publishing an action plan within six weeks to set out how it will respond, followed by a six-month progress report and a one-year review carried out by an appropriate body.
