British Tory MP says she was removed from position for being Muslim
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The minister said her "Muslimness" was making her colleagues “uncomfortable.”
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Former Tory PM Nusrat Ghani (ABS)
Nusrat Ghani, a former minister in Boris Johnson’s Conservative government has claimed she was fired from her job as junior transport Minister due to her faith making colleagues “uncomfortable.”
Ghani reported that she was told by a "whip"- a person that enforces parliamentary discipline - that her "Muslimness" had been a topic of concern in her termination.
The Muslim MP said that she was told at the reshuffle meeting which preceded the formation fo a new cabinet in Downing Street that "that ‘Muslimness’ was raised as an ‘issue’, that my ‘Muslim women minister’ status was making colleagues uncomfortable."
"I will not pretend that this hasn’t shaken my faith in the party and I have at times seriously considered whether to continue as an MP (member of parliament)."
Mark Spenser, the chief "whip" of the government, and the chief "whip" in Ghani's case, said the accusations as "completely false" and considers them defamatory. He tweeted that he has never used the words which Ghani attributed to him.
To ensure other Whips are not drawn into this matter, I am identifying myself as the person Nusrat Ghani MP has made claims about this evening.
— Mark Spencer (@Mark_Spencer) January 22, 2022
These accusations are completely false and I consider them to be defamatory. I have never used those words attributed to me
Spenser has said that Ghani initially declined to initiate an internal probe into the allegations.
The Conservative Party has previously been accused of Islamophobia, and a study released in May of last year chastised it for how it handled allegations of prejudice against Muslims.
A losing Tory streak
Ghani's accusations come amid a Johnson crisis fiasco. According to a senior Tory lawmaker on Thursday, the British government has used intimidation and attempted to blackmail lawmakers suspected of wanting Prime Minister Borish Johnson out of power.
This comes as Johnson faces calls to step down in light of various scandals in Downing Street, including his attendance at a party in his office during a COVID-19 lockdown in Britain.
Johnson has been at the center of a series of scandals recently, and last month a poll was released with a majority of respondents believing he should quit.
Johnson also issued a conditional apology for any offense caused by his previous statements against Islam, including a newspaper editorial in which he referred to women wearing burqas as "going around looking like letterboxes."
In December, Johnson's personal assessment fell to its lowest level since the election.
Islamophobia on the rise
The UK, along with France and Germany, has been seeing a rise in far-right sentiment in recent years. The UK's 2020 incarcerations related to far-right crime climbed by over a third.
The French upper legislative house voted late Tuesday to amend a proposed law prohibiting the wearing of "conspicuous religious symbols" to take part in events and competitions organized by sports federations in the latest round of French Islamophobia and religious discrimination, arguing that "neutrality is a requirement" on the field.
It is unclear if the ban would be implemented for the 2024 Paris Olympics, but if it is, then a wave of boycotts could be expected, as Muslims took a fair share of medals in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The decision resulted in protests and criticism due to representing a clear violation of religious freedom.
