Some of the comments by Conservative members included one stating on social media: “no Muslim will get my vote”, while another stated: “[I will] stand against the Islamification of our country”.
Some of the comments by Conservative members included one stating on social media: “no Muslim will get my vote”, while another stated: “[I will] stand against the Islamification of our country”.
In the aftermath of the New Zealand terror attacks, the Conservative Party has allegedly suspended 25 of its members for Islamophobic comments and threats.
Some of the comments by Conservative members included one stating on social media: “no Muslim will get my vote”, while another stated: “[I will] stand against the Islamification of our country”. Another wrote:
I was going through a few magazines the other day down the local mosque. I was really enjoying myself. Then the rifle jammed.
These anti-Muslim comments were reported by the Twitter account “Racists4RessMogg”, which claims to be “investigating institutional racism, Islamophobia, and cover-ups in the Conservative Party”.
In response to these Islamophobic comments by its members, the Conservative Party spokesperson stated:
We were aware of this matter, and action has been taken. Party members who have been found to have made inappropriate comments have been suspended pending further investigation.
The Conservative Party has had a long history of racist and Islamophobic rhetoric being associated with the party, and this most recent turn of events has only proven how embedded the systematic discrimination and hatred is in much of British politics.
Calls for further investigation into the Party’s institutionalized Islamophobia have been made, while many have commented on how serious these allegations really are.
The Muslim Council of Britain issued a statement saying:
We’ve seen MPs, councillors, and members engage in bigotry that should have no place in a modern Conservative Party. Yet the constructive call by Muslim communities for an independent inquiry into the issue has been ignored again and again.
While it is yet unclear if the Conservative Party plans on taking this investigation further, many have pointed to the fact that without a proper investigation, these Islamophobic threats and bigotry will continue to have real-world consequences on Muslims and minorities within the country.
Former Conservative chair Baroness Warsi, who has been leading calls for an inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative party, said that “years of raising Islamaphobia within my party had left me weary, but the New Zealand mosque shooting tragically reminded me that this fight is essential and must go on.”
Muslim activists have also accused the Tory party of attempting to cover up details of its decision to suspend Tory members. The true number of the more recent suspensions is not known, with the Tories simply saying that an unspecified number of people were suspended pending an investigation into offensive comments.
The Muslim Council of Britain has called for an independent inquiry, telling the Daily Mirror, “anything less is just not good enough.”
