The Conservative Party has appointed Professor Swaran Singh of Warwick University to lead an independent review into improving party handling of complaints of all forms of discrimination and prejudice, including Islamophobia.
The appointment of Prof Singh, a former commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, comes after a rash of complaints of prejudice by party activists and elected representatives.
Prime minister Boris Johnson agreed to launch an inquiry into Islamophobia when he and other leadership candidates were put on the spot in June by Sajid Javid, a Muslim, during a televised debate in the battle to succeed Theresa May.
But he has since made a point of expanding the remit of the inquiry to include not only prejudice against Muslims, but discrimination of all kinds, in what critics have said amounts to a watering down of the original proposal.
Johnson himself has repeatedly come under fire for describing Muslim women who wear the veil as looking like "letterboxes" or "bank robbers".
Conservative party chairman James Cleverly said: “The Conservative Party has always worked to act swiftly when allegations have been put to us and there are a wide range of sanctions to challenge and change behaviour.
“The Conservative Party will never stand by when it comes to prejudice and discrimination of any kind and it is right to hold an independent review, so we can stamp out unacceptable abuse that is not fit for public life.”
A recent report by the Muslim Engagement and Development group (MEND) listed more than 120 examples of alleged Islamophobia within the Conservative party.
The list included Mr Johnson himself, for his comments in an newspaper article about the burqa, as well as other members of the cabinet.
The report also complained of MP Bob Blackman hosting an anti-Islam extremist in parliament, and listed scores of instances of Tory representatives or activists posting, sharing or liking social media comments linking Muslims to crime or accusing them of being un-British or wishing to take over the UK and install Shariah law.
Prof Singh, who served on the EHRC from 2016-19 and is currently Professor of Social and Community Psychiatry at the University of Warwick, said: “I am privileged to have been appointed to chair the independent review into improving handling of complaints of prejudice and discrimination in the Conservative Party.”
The timetable of the review will be determined by Prof Singh.
