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Press Release

Reports into Islamophobia at Fringe Meeting at Conservative Party Conference

30 September 2019

After discussion at a fringe meeting during the Conservative Party Conference on Islamophobia reportedly descended into more bigotry an MCB spokesperson said:

"In the last few years there have been victims who have felt the pernicious impact of Islamophobia, be they people attacked on the street because of their faith, those discriminated at work, or those at the receiving end of abuse, including Muslims who are committed members of the Conservative Party."

"Rather than seeking to do something about it, we witness an entire fringe meeting devoted to dismissing the experience of these victims."

"We are not surprised."

"The meeting was hosted by Policy Exchange, an organisation with a history of whipping up hostility against British Muslim civil society. An organisation that was exposed by the BBC for appearing to manufacture evidence against a mosque. The very same organisation that has wilfully misrepresented the definition of Islamophobia as proposed by the All Part Parliamentary Group on British Muslims by inaccurately claiming that they would stifle free speech. A spurious talking point echoed, wrongly, again this morning by the Chancellor."

"With divisive outfits like the Policy Exchange holding such a sway over the Conservative Party, it comes as no surprise to many of us that the Tories have a long journey to tackle the extremists amongst its midst."

[END]

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Notes to Editors:

1.The Muslim Council of Britain is the UK's largest Muslim umbrella body with over
500 affiliated national, regional and local organisations, mosques,
charities and schools.

2. For further information please contact:
The Muslim Council of Britain
PO Box 57330
London
E1 2WJ
Tel: 0845 26 26 786
Fax: 0207 247 7079
** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])


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The Muslim Council of Britain, the UK’s largest umbrella body of Muslim organisations, has responded to the ** BBC story ([link removed])
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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