Boris Johnson has been accused of running a government that “rewards racism” after the appointment of Zac Goldsmith to the House of Lords and the decision to keep him on as environment minister.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), which criticised Goldsmith’s mayoral campaign in 2016 for smearing Sadiq Khan, said honouring him with a lifetime peerage raised serious questions about the party’s commitment to tackling Islamophobia.

Harun Khan, the secretary general of the MCB, said: “For Zac Goldsmith to be given a peerage and position in cabinet despite his racist campaign for mayor of London illustrates how racism is not only accepted but even rewarded by the government. Serious questions must be asked about how the Conservative party can say one thing and do the complete opposite when it comes to Islamophobia.”

Goldsmith denied running a racist electoral strategy in 2016, when his campaign suggested Khan, the eventual winner, was acquainted with terrorist sympathisers.

The prime minister continued to face criticism on Friday for appointing Goldsmith to the Lords after he lost his Richmond Park seat to the Lib Dems for the second time in three years.

The environmentalist, 44, has also been accused of hypocrisy on social media for previously describing the peerage system as one that promoted “party apparatchiks” who faced “no democratic pressure”.

On Friday, critics described the politician’s manoeuvring into the Lords as the “bankruptcy of the constitution”, saying he would escape the scrutiny of MPs.

Johnson’s girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, worked for Goldsmith and campaigned for him extensively during the election.

Goldsmith wrote in a tweet in July 2012: “Seedy lists of party apparatchiks appointed by power hungry party leaders & insulated from any democratic pressure for 15 years? No thanks.”

He voted against proposals for House of Lords reform in 2012, which included 15-year terms for peers.

On Thursday night it was announced he had been made a life peer and accepted his old job in government again where he also attended cabinet.

The Labour MP Luke Pollard, a shadow environment minister, said: “Someone who has just been rejected by voters does not have a democratic mandate for a ministerial post. It says everything we need to know about Boris Johnson’s regard for democracy that he has ignored the decision of voters of Richmond Park.

“If you are looking for a new example of privilege this is one: keeping a ministerial post despite being rejected by the voters. Now Zac Goldsmith is in the Lords he will escape scrutiny by MPs.”

The Green party’s Natalie Bennett, who sits in the Lords but is calling for its abolition, said: “This is a further demonstration of the bankruptcy of our constitutional system. Zac Goldsmith was responsible for a horrendous, racist campaign to be London mayor. He is a backer of the economic and political systems that are laying waste to the planet.”

Downing Street has dismissed allegations of cronyism over the appointment and also declined to directly comment on Goldsmith’s previous criticism of the peerage system.



Johnson’s official spokesman said: “Zac Goldsmith was doing an excellent and committed job in cabinet, dealing with really important issues, and he will now be able to get on with that work and carry on delivering.”



The spokesman repeated his praise when asked if it was reasonable to swiftly reward a politician who lost to the Lib Dems by 7,766 votes.



Regarding the 2012 tweet, and how Johnson had convinced Goldsmith to accept the new arrangement, the official would only say: “I don’t have details of any conversations.”



The Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney, who took the remain-supporting Richmond Park constituency from Goldsmith, a Brexiter, echoed the allegations of cronyism. “Already Boris Johnson is rewarding his cronies with peerages,” she said.

The culture secretary, Nicky Morgan, did not run in the election but was also awarded a peerage and reappointed to her role.

Goldsmith has received cross-party praise for his work on the environment, as a minister and as a member of all-party parliamentary groups and the environmental audit select committee. The Labour MP and former shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy said she believed he was committed to the government’s promise that there would be no lowering of standards in environmental regulation after Brexit.

McCarthy said: “On the House of Lords, the whole system is fundamentally undemocratic, but I don’t doubt that he’s generally committed to this agenda and because of that I welcome the fact that he is still around to carry on and do that work.”

Ruth Chambers, a spokeswoman for Greener UK, said it wanted him to push for high standards to be enshrined in the forthcoming environment bill.

Green and environmental activists are said to be holding Goldsmith to a tweet he wrote in September when he was asked if a no-deal Brexit would hollow out standards. He replied: “Categorically that will not happen. We will have the same or higher standards than the EU, and better accountability (via the new Office for Environmental Protection).”