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Monday, January 24, 2022

UK orders probe into conservative lawmaker’s Islamophobia claims

The lawmaker says she was dismissed in 2020 as a junior minister because colleagues felt “uncomfortable” by her Muslim faith.

• January 24, 2022
Nusrat Ghani
Nusrat Ghani [Photo credit: BBC]

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered an investigation into conservative lawmaker, Nusrat Ghani’s claim that she was sacked as a junior minister in 2020 over concerns that she was a Muslim.

“The Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Office to conduct an inquiry into the allegations made by Nusrat Ghani MP,’’ a Downing Street spokesperson announced in a brief statement on Monday.

In an interview published by the Sunday Times, the lawmaker said that she was dismissed as a junior transport minister in February 2020.

She said following her dismissal a senior conservative lawmaker told her that her Muslim faith made colleagues “uncomfortable” and that her career would be “destroyed” if she tried to complain.

In a subsequent statement on Sunday, she said that she had directly informed Mr Johnson about the matter but that the prime minister wrote to her that he could not get involved and suggested that she use the internal conservative party’s complaint process.

Reacting to the launch of a probe, she wrote on Twitter that she welcomed the decision and asked that all that was said in Downing Street, and by her senior conservative colleague be included in the terms of reference of the inquiry.

“As I said to the Prime Minister last night, all I want is for this to be taken seriously and for him to investigate,’’ she added.

(Sputnik/NAN)

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