Boris Johnson has been forced into announcing an inquiry into claims by Tory MP Nusrat Ghani that she lost her job as a minister partly because of concerns about her “Muslimness”.
Downing Street announced on Monday morning that the Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Office to conduct an inquiry into the allegations made by Nusrat Ghani MP.
She claimed on the weekend that she was removed as a transport minister in February 2020 because of concerns about her Muslim faith.
Chief Whip Mark Spencer, who admitted speaking to her, angrily denied her claims, saying they were “completely false” and “defamatory”.
Ghani said that when she raised the matter with Johnson directly after losing her job in a ministerial reshuffle, he told her he could not get involved.
But following pressure from cabinet from Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi Downing Street dropped any resistance to a government-led inquiry into the claims of Islamophobia.
In a statement Downing Street said: “At the time these allegations were first made, the Prime Minister recommended to her that she make a formal complaint to CCHQ. She did not take up this offer.
“The Prime Minister has now asked officials to establish the facts about what happened. As he said at the time, the Prime Minister takes these claims very seriously.”
The investigation is separate from the inquiry by senior Cabinet Official civil servant, Sue Gray, into allegations that lockdown-busting parties were held in Downing Street.
That report is due sometime this week and will be a moment of extreme danger for the Prime Minister.
But the new claims of Islamophobia, along Tory MP William Wragg preparing to meet police officers about allegations of blackmail by government whips, and growing backbench anger at new tax rises, Boris Johnson begins another week with the political agenda completely beyond his control.
Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour’s Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary, said it was shameful that the government delayed before acting on serious allegations of Islamophobia
She said: “This inquiry is welcome, but doesn’t replace the need for an immediate investigation into whether the Chief Whip broke the ministerial code.
“In the midst of a cost of living crisis, the government is once again having to spend its time investigating the behaviour of the PM and those around him."
“The Conservatives are incapable of leading the country.”
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