MCB renews calls for investigation into Conservative Party Islamophobia

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has renewed calls on the UK's equalities commission to examine Islamophobia within the Conservative Party. 

To boost its chances for an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (ECHR), the MCB submitted a dossier containing examples of Islamophobia perpetrated by 300 individuals, including elected officials from the Conservative Party and senior advisers working for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

The submission contains details of 16 MPs, one member of the European Parliament, nine prospective parliamentary candidates, 103 councillors, former councillors and former mayors making or endorsing Islamophobic ideas. 

'The Party’s response has been one of denial, dismissal and deceit. This results in clear discrimination against Muslims because of their religion'

- Harun Khan, Secretary General of  MCB

Senior government advisers Dominic Cummings and Andrew Sabisky have also been included in the MCB's dossier to support its call for an investigation into Islamophobia within the Conservative Party. 

Some of the examples contained in the dossier include Andrew Brown, the MP for South Cambridgeshire, questioning the loyalty of Muslims in Britain when responding to Muslim leaders' concerns about the Iraq war.

Other examples include Karl McCartney, the MP for Lincoln, retweeting Islamophobic and anti-semitic posts by Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins. 

Harun Khan, the Secretary General for the MCB, said the Conservative Party has an "Islamophobia crisis" and said the problem was "institutional, systematic and widespread".

"The Party’s response has been one of denial, dismissal and deceit. This results in clear discrimination against Muslims because of their religion," Khan wrote in his letter to the ECHR. 

"Islamophobia is never acceptable, yet this dossier cites hundreds of individuals – including many in significant positions of power and influence – who have made horribly offensive comments about Muslims that would not be tolerated for any other section in our society."

 The letter also criticised the Conservative Party's failure to investigate Islamophobia within the party after it decided to look at discrimination and prejudice at a broader level. 

Last year, the Conservative Party rejected a cross-party definition of Islamophobia backed by the MCB, arguing that it would stifle freedom of expression and impede counter-terrorism efforts. 

Other British political parties, including Labour and the Scottish National Party, have adopted the cross-party definition of Islamophobia, which states that Islamophobia is "rooted in racism and targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness".