Under Boris Johnson, it seems punishment is reserved for rebels, not racists

The prime minister may wish to wipe these incidents of prejudice from the public’s memory, but Muslim communities and the wider community will never forget

Rarely is Prime Minister’s Questions inspiring. Occasionally, the odd clever quip will make headlines. Yesterday, we saw Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi receive a resounding applause in the House of Commons for condemning Islamophobic comments made by the prime minister, and calling on him to apologise for the hurt and offence caused to Muslim women.

Unfortunately, Dhesi was met with ambiguity and bumbling, but no apology.

Islamophobia in the Conservative Party is not just a case of one or two reckless comments – we have seen hundreds of instances of islamophobia from MPs to councillors and ordinary party members. The problem is not only widespread, but institutional. Yet, we have barely seen any attempts by the Conservative Party to address, or even acknowledge the problem.

Since the Brexit referendum, we have seen the mainstreaming of the far-right, which has also worryingly infected pockets of the Conservative Party. We have seen Boris Johnson label women wearing the niqab as "letterboxes" who “look like bank robbers”, Bob Blackman, MP for Harrow East, retweet an anti-Muslim post by Tommy Robinson, and of course Zac Goldsmith run a Mayoral campaign which sought to associate Sadiq Khan with extremism, just because he is Muslim. This is to name but a few examples.

In all of these cases, and the abundance of other instances where we have witnessed Conservative Party members pandering to the far-right, endorsing Britain First, and publicly making Islamophobic remarks, we have seen little or no action taken.

The Conservatives will point to the suspension of 14 party members earlier this year for allegedly making Islamophobic comments online as evidence that they do take swift action over racism, but we know this to not be the case.

Despite running a deeply xenophobic campaign, Goldsmith was barely berated. This can, in part, be put down to being part of Johnsons’ inner circle, which seems to reward racism with promotion. Blackman, too, failed to even receive a slap on the wrist. Johnson was subject to an internal investigation, but was later cleared of breaking the Conservative Party’s code of conduct. In fact, the independent panel found the now prime minister to be “respectful and tolerant” in his childish mockery of Muslim women.

In contrast, the Conservative Party has been very quick off the mark to enforce the harshest form of discipline for MPs who came out against the prime minister’s plans for a no-deal Brexit – immediate removal of the whip, deselection and a ban from standing for the party in future elections.

By expelling MPs who disagree with party policy, but failing to act when members alienate, offend and insult a section of British society by cosying up to the far-right, a regrettable message is sent to Muslim communities.

The Conservative Party will try to wipe these incidents of racism from the public’s memory, but Muslim communities, and the wider anti-racist community, will never forget. Racism cannot be ignored.

The party seems intent on remaining silent, sticking its fingers in its proverbial ears while being widely criticised over its failure to tackle Islamophobic incidents, from senior Conservatives like Baroness Warsi, the former chair of the Conservative Party, to over 350 mosques urging an internal inquiry last year.

The Conservative Party has now ordered an independent inquiry into the allegations of Islamophobia within its ranks, which we welcome, as long as it is conducted thoroughly and we see tangible changes arising from this.

James Cleverly, the Conservative Party chairman, has said this inquiry will only take place once they have agreed a definition of Islamophobia first. This sounds sensible, but is problematic as the Conservative Party has already rejected the working definition of Islamophobia, developed by a cross-party group of MPs and widely endorsed and adopted across political and civil society, including by the Scottish Conservatives. We can’t have an inquiry into Islamophobia without a clear definition of what Islamophobia is, but there is little hope of any investigation at all if the Conservative Party can’t get this first hurdle right.

It is likely that we will be faced with another general election in the near future. State of Hate 2019, a report by HOPE not Hate found that in the 2017 general election, only 11 per cent of Muslim voters chose the Conservative Party. This is unlikely to improve while the party continues to fail to tackle its anti-Muslim problem, and continues to prioritise Brexit over bigotry.

Expelling the Brexit rebels might unlock the door to the prime minister’s no-deal Brexit, but failing to expel the racists may just close the door to his premiership altogether.

Zainab Gulamali is public affairs manager for the Muslim Council of Britain