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“We have absolutely zero tolerance for any discrimination, any Islamophobia, in the Conservative party.”

Dominic Raab, Sky News

22 January 2022

Facts

This remark was made by the Justice Secretary after Tory MP Nusrat Ghani directed allegations of Islamophobia towards the Conservative party. She claimed she was removed from a ministerial job in 2020 as a result of her “muslimness”. In response, Dominic Raab claimed the Tory party had “zero tolerance” for Islamophobia. In truth, Islamophobia is an endemic problem inside the Conservative Party. 

In March 2020 the Muslim Council of Britain submitted its dossier of 300 cases of Islamophobia among Tory party members and those affiliated with the party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Examples of which included calls for Muslims to be "thrown off bridges" or forcibly sterilised. The anti-racism group Hope Not Hate, has provided evidence showing that more than half of the membership of Britain’s governing party harbour crudely Islamophobic beliefs. This evidence includes surveys showing how widespread Islamophobic attitudes have become within the Conservatives, including a poll that found almost half of Conservative Party members believed that Islam was “a threat to the British way of life”. It also found that 58 percent believed the conspiracy theory that “there are no-go areas in Britain where Sharia law dominates and non-Muslims cannot enter”. These Islamophobic attitudes are reflected in the conduct and procedures of the Tory high command. 

Verdict

Dominic Raab’s claim that there is “absolutely zero tolerance for any discrimination, any Islamophobia, in the Conservative party” is demonstrably false, and an insult to Muslims. The kindest construction of Raab’s remark is that he did not know what he was talking about.

We approached Dominic Raab’s parliamentary office and the No 10 Press Office to give him a chance to comment, but received no response. 

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