Sajjad Karim, a Conservative party MEP, says he has received Islamophobic abuse from ‘very senior members of the Conservative Party’

The Muslim Council of Britain says it has ‘lost faith’ in the ability of politicians to tackle racism, after new cases of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party emerged.

The BBC reported that 20 new cases had been highlighted to the party, which involved party members sharing or supporting anti-Muslim posts on social media.

It comes as Sajjad Karim, a Conservative party MEP, revealed that he had received Islamophobic abuse himself, including from ‘very senior members of the Conservative Party, one of whom is in fact a serving minister at this moment in time.’

In some of the latest cases handed over to the party, individuals posted comments such as ‘Muslim scum’ and ‘I don’t want Muslims in this country’.




Miqdaad Versi of the Muslim Council of Britain, told Metro.co.uk: ‘Not only have you got Islamophobia in the lower levels of the party amongst members, but this goes right to the top.

‘You’ve got a Muslim Conservative MEP, Sajjad Karim saying there’s an issue of Islamophobia, including where he’s been personally targeted.’

Mr Versi said it was a ‘very serious’ problem for the Conservative Party, that a ‘serving minister has been accused of making Islamophobic comments.’

Miqdaad Versi says he has lost faith in the party to ‘tackle racism’ (Picture: Rex Features)

He also renewed his calls for an independent inquiry, but said given the lack of action and the fact that Boris Johnson had ‘rowed back’ on the commitment of an independent inquiry, he had lost faith in the politicians to ‘tackle racism’.

Having initially committed to an ‘inquiry into Islamophobia’ during a TV debate, the prime minister downgraded it to ‘a general investigation’ into all types of prejudice.

Mr Versi went on to say that it was a shame it had to come down to external pressure in order to get the party to commit to an independent inquiry, which the Conservative Party has thus far failed to be ‘transparent’ on.

It comes after a senior Muslim councillor in the Conservative Party said he had ‘revaluated his view of Islamophobia in the party’.

Having initially committed to an ‘inquiry into Islamophobia’ during a TV debate, the prime minister downgraded it to ‘a general investigation’ (Pictures: AP)

The Wakefield Express reported Councillor Nadeem Ahmed felt an independent inquiry was necessary after ‘speaking to victims of Islamophobia’ and seeing the volume of racist comments that had been posted online.

Harun Khan, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: ‘We are not surprised by the latest revelations.

‘They are a manifestation of institutional Islamophobia within the Conservative Party, and corroborate the polling done demonstrating the scale of the issue.

‘An independent and specific inquiry into Islamophobia specifically is long overdue.

Sadly, the Conservative response has been woeful. From denial, through to now a reluctant commitment to a broad and watered down investigation that we fear will do nothing to address this problem.’

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