An investigation into Islamophobia within the Conservative party has been condemned as a whitewash by senior Muslim Tories despite it criticising Boris Johnson for comparing women wearing the burka to letterboxes.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a former chair of the Tory party, said the findings of the report vindicated her six-year long campaign against anti-Muslim sentiments in party.
An independent review found anti-Muslim sentiment was seen at local association and individual levels of the Conservative Party but claims of “institutional racism” were not borne out by evidence of the way complaints were handled.
Warsi, who has accused the party of “institutional racism”, submitted a dossier of 30 cases to the inquiry.
The report said it carried out “in-depth scrutiny” of the cases provided by Lady Warsi but “concluded that her allegation of ‘institutional racism’ against the party was not borne out by evidence available to the investigation”.
In response Lady 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.”
“The urgency and extent of change recommended & required by the report is an acknowledgment of the scale of the problem and evidence of a system that failed to protect victims of racism - it also highlights the victimisation of complainants painted as ‘troublemakers’ for speaking out.”
Former chancellor Sajid Javid, who made a commitment to hold an inquiry into Islamophobia a key issue in the 2019 Tory leadership election, said the report found "distressing examples of anti-Muslim sentiment at local association and individual levels" and backed reform calls.
The review made a point of criticising the Prime Minister personally for his 2018 newspaper column which described Muslim women who wear the burqa as looking like “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”.
The report, led by Professor Swaran Singh, concluded that high profile comments such as Johnson’s “give the impression to many that the party and its leadership are insensitive to Muslim communities”.
Labour’s Shadow women and equalities secretary Marsha de Cordova said: “This report is a damning indictment of the discrimination rife in the Conservative Party, and it goes all the way up to the Prime Minister.”
SNP depute Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald said: “Boris Johnson has made a litany of overtly racist and discriminatory comments about various groups of people over the years, which have not only caused major offence but have damaged the Conservative Party and the UK’s reputation.”
“This is not leadership – and any Prime Minister who does not hold, promote and follow a zero tolerance towards racism and Islamophobia is not fit for office.”
