Tory MP accuses whip of telling her she was fired because of her ‘Muslimness’
Ghani says Conservative whips told her that her ‘Muslimness’ was making colleagues uncomfortable (Picture: UK Parliament/PA)

Nus Ghani MP’s allegations, that she was removed from a ministerial post due to Islamophobia, have prompted shock and disbelief amongst some commentators. 

How, they ask, can racism like this occur at the very top of the Conservative Party? 

Frankly, that’s not been my reaction. 

I appreciate seeing Islamophobia being widely condemned, but if I’m honest, I was far from shocked – and I don’t think many British Muslims will be.

If you have been paying attention, you will be familiar with the scale of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party. 

But you will also know that it is a serious problem across British politics more broadly.

Ghani says Conservative whips told her that her ‘Muslimness’ was ‘making colleagues uncomfortable.’

She says that this, coupled with the accusation that she was insufficiently willing to defend her party against charges of Islamophobia, was why she was removed as a transport minister in 2020. 

We shouldn’t kid ourselves into thinking that Islamophobia is confined to just the governing party

It seems that Tory whips believed those charges were groundless. I’m not sure how they came to that conclusion.

Boris Johnson’s infamous description of Muslim women who wear the niqab as looking like ‘letterboxes’ and ‘bank robbers’ is well documented. 

Yet the aftermath is sometimes forgotten: In the week following the now-Prime Minister’s remarks, reported Islamophobic incidents – including violent assaults – rocketed by 375%.

Even less well remembered is Johnson’s response to the 7/7 London bombings, when he claimed that ‘Islam is the problem’ and asked ‘when is someone going to get 18th Century on Islam’s medieval ass?’. 

He went on to say that Islamophobia was ‘natural’ and described Islamic scripture as ‘viciously sectarian’. 

If you’re surprised that a government led by this man is Islamophobic, well – I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

But it would be a mistake to think the Tories’ problem is unique to Johnson. 

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From Zac Goldsmith’s London mayoral campaign, which his own colleagues condemned, and MPs like Bob Blackman spreading flagrantly Islamophobic messages, to polls finding almost half of Tory members believe Islam is ‘a threat to the British way of life’, the Conservatives are knee-deep in Islamophobia. 

When people like this are leading the country, it’s hardly surprising that nearly half of recorded hate crimes are Islamophobic. 

But we shouldn’t kid ourselves into thinking that Islamophobia is confined to just the governing party. Far from it.

They might be the worst offenders, but they’re not alone in British politics.

A recent report found that 60% of media coverage of Muslims is negative, with hostile press articles outnumbering positive articles at a ratio of 7:1.

And frankly my party’s record isn’t good enough either. 

That much was clear in New Labour policies that shaped my early life, like the ‘War on Terror’ and the Islamophobia it unleashed, to the Prevent programme, which was widely accused of targeting Muslims.

It’s still evident now, with recent polling showing nearly half of Muslim Labour members think the party doesn’t take the issue seriously.

This was brought into sharp focus for me last year when an unnamed ‘senior source’ spread Islamophobic tropes during the Batley and Spen by-election. 

Sadly, too many in my party seem eager to brush incidents like this under the carpet, complacently patting themselves on the back as they take aim at the Tories’ record.

I can’t bring myself to join in with this self-congratulation.

I don’t say this with any relish – talking about Islamophobia isn’t fun and seeing it consistently ignored by people on my own side is painful – but if we’re going to eradicate it, we need to face up to the problem, on all sides.

Yes, the Tories are guilty of Islamophobia, but it’s rife across British politics, and Labour is far from immune.  

The first step all parties need to take is to believe us when we tell them this.

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