BORIS Johnson has insisted he takes claims a Tory MP was sacked as a minister for being Muslim “extremely seriously” despite waiting 18 months to launch an inquiry.
The Prime Minster today announced the Cabinet Office would examine allegations made by Nusrat Ghani that her dismissal in February 2020 was related to her faith.
Ms Ghani claimed that “Muslimness was raised as an issue” in her sacking, and she was told by a party whip that being a Muslim woman made her colleagues “uncomfortable”.
The former transport minister also revealed she spoken to the Prime Minister personally about it in July the same year, but he said he could not get involved.
Instead, he said she could raise the matter with Tory HQ, something Ms Ghani said was not appropriate as her sacking was a government matter, not party business.
“All I have ever wanted was for his Government to take this seriously, investigate properly and ensure no other colleague has to endure this,” the Wealden MP said.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab yesterday said there would be no “specific investigation” unless Ms Ghani made a formal complaint.
However after senior colleagues, including Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi and Health Secretary Sajid Javid, backed her call for an inquiry, Number 10 relented.
Mr Johnson has asked the Cabinet Office to “establish the facts” regarding the claims of Islamophobia made by the Conservative MP.
He said: “We take these allegations extremely seriously, I took them very seriously when they were raised with me 18 months ago… very glad there’s an investigation taking place now. I can’t say more, really, about it.”
Chief Whip Mark Spencer has said he spoke to Ms Ghani at the time of her sacking, but strongly denies her claims, calling them “completely false” and “defamatory”.
Asked if Mr Spencer could stay in post while the investigation was conducted, Mr Johnson dodged the question, saying: “This is something I take personally extremely seriously, I took it very seriously 18 months ago, we must wait and see what the investigation produces.”
The row over Ms Ghani is the latest to involve the Tory party whips, who have also been accused in recent days of bullying and 'blackmail' to keep Mr Johnson in office.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel