Rishi Sunak Condemns Lee Anderson’s Remarks, Denies ‘Structural Islamophobia’ In Party
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned Lee Anderson’s remarks about London Mayor Sadiq Khan as “wrong” on Monday, amid increasing accusations of systemic Islamophobia within the Conservative Party.
Anderson claimed “Islamists” controlled Khan in a GB News interview on Friday, igniting a firestorm of criticism that resulted in him losing the whip on Saturday after he refused to apologise.
Asked whether his party had “Islamophobic tendencies” in an interview with the BBC, Sunak said: “Of course it doesn’t. I think it’s incumbent on all of us, especially those elected to Parliament, not to inflame our debates in a way that’s harmful to others. Lee’s comments weren’t acceptable. They were wrong, and that’s why he’s had the whip suspended.”
The Tory tail spin over the decision to suspend Anderson, however, has continued through the weekend, partly due to Sunak’s silence and also news that some had rallied behind Anderson.
On Sunday, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that Anderson was not “intending to be Islamophobic.” The Telegraph also reported that some Conservative MPs were unhappy with the party’s decision to suspend the whip.
Several high-profile Conservatives loudly condemned the remarks. Former Conservative chairwoman Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said that Anderson’s comments were proof of the “rot at the heart” of the party.
The Muslim Council of Britain wrote to the party chair Richard Holden demanding an investigation into “structural Islamophobia” within the party which they said, despite the action taken against Anderson, remained.
“Our view is that the Islamophobia in the Party is institutional, tolerated by the leadership and seen as acceptable by great swathes of the party membership,” the organisation’s secretary general Zara Mohammed wrote.
