Nusrat Ghani: PM orders Cabinet Office to investigate 'Muslimness' claim

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered a Cabinet Office inquiry into claims made by a Muslim MP who says her faith was given as a reason for her sacking as a minister in 2020.

Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani said a government whip said her "Muslimness was raised as an issue", according to the Sunday Times.

Downing Street said "the prime minister takes these claims very seriously".

Conservative Chief Whip Mark Spencer says the claims are completely false.

He has said Ms Ghani was referring to him and that he considered her allegations to be defamatory.

A No 10 spokesperson said: "At the time these allegations were first made, the prime minister recommended to her that she make a formal complaint to CCHQ [Conservative Campaign Headquarters]. She did not take up this offer.

"The prime minister has now asked officials to establish the facts about what happened."

Speaking on Sunday, Ms Ghani said when she was previously invited to use the internal Conservative Party complaint process, she did not because it was "very clearly not appropriate for something that happened on government business".

"All I have ever wanted was for this government to take this seriously, investigate properly and ensure no other colleague has to endure this," she said.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim woman to attend Cabinet, said Ms Ghani's experience had been "an open secret in Westminster" and that she had "struggled to be heard" for nearly two years.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the inquiry was "a start" but "it has to go much deeper than that".

"This was someone who was told that her job came to an end because of a protected characteristic. That is actually against the law," she said.

The former party chair said that she believed there was a "pattern" with Islamophobia in the Conservative party, where "Islamophobic racism is not viewed as seriously as other forms of racism" and "action is rarely taken until the media is involved".