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Press Release
MCB responds to BBC story on Tory Islamophobia
20 September 2019
The Muslim Council of Britain, the UK’s largest umbrella body of Muslim organisations, has responded to the BBC story on Tory members suspended over Islamophobic posts.
Harun Khan, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, said:
"We are not surprised by the latest revelations. They are a manifestation of institutional Islamophobia within the Conservative Party, and corroborate the polling done demonstrating the scale of the issue.
“An independent and specific inquiry into Islamophobia specifically is long overdue. Sadly the Conservative response has been woeful. From denial, through to now a reluctant commitment to a broad and watered-down investigation that we fear will do nothing to address this problem.
"The fact former MEP Sajjad Karim has confirmed a current serving minister has made Islamophobic comments directly about him, is extremely serious and indicative of the scale of the problem. Investigating this minister immediately is essential will be the latest test of the apparent resolve of the Party.
"If no action is taken, and instead they remain a minister, it will yet again demonstrate its failure to take this problem seriously.
"As much as it continues to deny this, it is becoming increasingly evident that the Conservative Party’s problem with Islamophobia is endemic.
“A Hope Not Hate poll earlier this year showed a significant proportion of Conservative Party members polled had Islamophobic views.
“And we have had senior Conservatives, starting with the Prime Minister, current ministers such as Zac Goldsmith and Nadine Dorries who all have seriously contributed to this issue. With instances like these coming to light more and more regularly and at all levels of the Party, this is a problem which it cannot deny and obfuscate any longer."
[ENDS]
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