A Tory peer has said her own party was failing to “tackle racism at every level”.
Baroness Warsi, who has been outspoken in her condemnation of the party’s handling of the scandal, said the Tories had been “dismissive” of the probem.
Warsi, the first Muslim woman to attend cabinet, launched a scathing attack after Boris Johnson made a U-turn on a pledge for the Tories to hold an independent inquiry into Islamophobia, instead saying the party would have a “general investigation into prejudice of all kinds”.
Warsi said: “I am disappointed that the party, having now realised that there is a problem in relation to a specific form of racism is still trying to absolve its responsibility by dilute what it is that its going to look at.”
It comes after the Tories suspended up to 25 sitting and ex councillors after a dossier suggested they’d posted racist and Islamophobic content online.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m starting to question just how much needs to come to light before the party finally acknowledges we have a serious and deep problem with Islamophobia and that, institutionally we’re failing to deal with it.”
She added: “Remember, we’re now four years into these matters first being brought to the attention of the party, three chairman later, two prime ministers later, the fact that we’re still prevaricating about even having an inquiry, and the kind of inquiry we’re going to have, shows just how dismissive the party have been on the issue of Islamophobia.
“Let’s not forget that that the first issue raised by my colleagues and indeed the previous prime minister was that there really was no evidence of Islamophobia. Well, here we are four years later with dossier after dossier, dozens of dozens of cases being presented with the most vile evidence of racism within the party at every level from members of parliament all the way down to ordinary activists.”
(Image: Chris J Ratcliffe)
It came after Michael Gove defended the decision to hold a more general inquiry into racism in the party insisting he had always backed a wider remit for the probe.
Challenged on his pledge for the party to hold an independent inquiry into Islamophobia, Michael Gove, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, also told Today: “I said in terms when I appeared on your programme last week that we would have an inquiry into Islamophobia and prejudice. I said that we needed to tackle prejudice and racism in all its forms.”
Gove had previously told the programme the party would “absolutely” hold an “independent inquiry into Islamophobia … before the end of the year”.
Warsi also attacked the party over its lack of transparency over the process of handling Islamophobia allegations.
Documents, obtained by The Guardian, were claimed to show 15 current and 10 former councillors had either shared, posted or endorsed Islamophobic or other racist content on Facebook .
Among the hateful material, were posts referring Muslims to “barbarians”.
In another, a councillor, who has reportedly been pictured with Boris Johnson, endorsed a suggestion aid to Africa should stop allowing “mother nature take her course”.
She replied: “It’s nature’s way of depopulation.”
(Image: Getty Images)
The Conservative Party said all of those found to be Tory members had been “suspended immediately, pending an investigation”.
“The swift action we take on not just anti-Muslim discrimination, but discrimination of any kind is testament to the seriousness with which we take such issues,” a spokeswoman said.
“The Conservative Party will never stand by when it comes to prejudice and discrimination of any kind.
“That’s why we are already establishing the terms of an investigation to make sure that such instances are isolated and robust processes are in place to stamp them out as and when they occur.”
It is understood not all the names provided in the dossier are members of the Tory Party, but the party was unable to say how many members had been suspended.
The disclosure will increase pressure on Boris Johnson to hold an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the party, rather than a broader investigation into prejudice within its ranks.
(Image: PA)
Shadow equalities minister Naz Shah said: “The Conservative Party is rife with Islamophobia, racism and bigotry from top to bottom, but we have no faith that Boris Johnson will do anything about it.
“Johnson’s comments about Muslim women looking like ‘bank robbers’ and ‘letter boxes’ were linked to a 375% rise in anti-Muslim hate crime, and polls show a majority of Conservative Party members hold Islamophobic views.
“Boris Johnson must commit to a full independent inquiry into Islamophobia and stop pretending it doesn’t exist in his party.”
