The Tories have pledged to begin an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative Party by the end of this year after months of dither and obfuscation.
Michael Gove confirmed the probe will be established by December 31 after Boris Johnson's promise to hold an inquiry was previously mired in uncertainty.
His pledge came hours before the official start of the general election campaign.
But there appears to be a catch to Mr Gove's comments.
While Boris Johnson had already promised a probe by the end of the year, the Tory leader has been very careful to say it won't just be about Islamophobia.
Instead, speaking to reporters in September, the Prime Minister said it would "also comprise of prejudice and discrimination of other kinds."
Campaigners claim this is downgrading an investigation and taking the focus off Islamophobia.
Mr Gove appeared to drop the conditions about other forms of prejudice when he spoke to BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
He said this morning: "We will have an independent inquiry into Islamophobia and it will be established before the end of the year."
Yet after he spoke, multiple Tory sources told the Mirror they were unaware of any shift back to an Islamophobia-only inqury.
And Mr Gove also told the BBC: "We will have our own investigation into Islamophobia and prejudice." This may suggest the net is still widened far beyond anti-Muslim prejudice.
It comes five months after Boris Johnson's leadership rival Sajid Javid bounced fellow candidates into backing a full, independent inquiry into Tory Islamophobia.
After loudly inviting MPs including Boris Johnson to agree an external probe during a TV debate, he said: “It's great that we all agree on that.”
Yet weeks later Boris Johnson threw the probe into doubt by saying it would be a "general investigation into all types of prejudice and discrimination, including antisemitism."
Tory chiefs also over alleged Islamophobia, despite a string of cases being reported to the party.
And Tory minister Kwasi Kwarteng even suggested a full independent probe wasn't necessary. He said in September: "I think the party has enough structure and discipline and focus to try and deal with this problem in the first instance.”
Speaking today, Michael Gove said an inquiry will be set up regardless of the result of the election.
But he refused to commit to publishing the number of complaints or suspensions, despite Labour publishing similar figures on anti-Semitism. Instead he said it would be "as open as possible".
He also said he did not know who will lead the inquiry.
Attempting to turn the attack on Labour, he said: "It will be a proper inquiry unlike the Labour Party’s own staged inquiry into anti-Semitism conducted by Shami Chakrabarti - essentially a whitewash."
But Mr Gove was slammed last night by former Tory chairwoman Sayeeda Warsi.
She tweeted: "On the issue of Islamophobia Conservatives Michael Gove has been part of the problem. He can never be part of the solution on tackling antisemitism.
"Politicians who have failed to call out bigotry in their own Party have no moral authority to call it out in others."
