London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Oct 04, 2025

Tory chairman 'sorry' for Islamophobia in party

Tory chairman 'sorry' for Islamophobia in party

Conservative chairman James Cleverly has apologised for cases of Islamophobia in his party.

Mr Cleverly said he was "sorry" when Tory members and candidates "do or say things that are wrong".

But he added that he was "confident" there was now "a robust mechanism" in place to deal with the issue.

The Muslim Council of Britain has accused the Tory party of having a "blind spot for this type of racism" and of not doing enough to tackle it.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics, Mr Cleverly said an investigation into prejudice in his party will get under way before the end of the year.


Burka comments

He said: "We said it will be initiated this calendar year.

"We have been doing, in parallel to the general election campaign, preparatory work ahead of that and we'll be making a more formal announcement as soon as the election is done.

"It will specifically look into Islamophobia in my party. It will, by definition, also have to look at other stuff as well, because you can't always unpick this.

"But we are and absolutely have always been clear on this. We recognise that in mass membership organisations that there will always be people that say and do things which are completely inappropriate."

Tory leader Boris Johnson has also come in for criticism for a newspaper column last year in which he said Muslim women wearing burkas "look like letter boxes".

Tory election candidate Parvez Akhtar said the effect of the column has been "to reinforce the widely held view that the Conservative Party has a blind spot when it comes to Muslims".

Mr Cleverly told John Pienaar the prime minister had already apologised for his comments.


'Liberal democracy'

Pushed again after being informed that Mr Johnson only apologised for any offence caused by the comments, not the comments themselves, he added: "If you read the piece, the points that he was making in that piece was that unlike other European countries who have put a blanket ban on the wearing of the burka or hijab, the UK does not do that.

"The point he was making was that actually in a healthy liberal democracy like we have here in the UK, just because someone has, you know, a personal discomfort with that does not mean that it should be banned.

"That is a defence of our liberal democracy."

Earlier in the election campaign, Mr Johnson himself apologised for the "hurt and offence" caused by Islamophobia within the Conservative Party ranks.

Mr Cleverly claimed there was a "massive gulf" between the scale of Labour's problems with anti-Semitism and the issue of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party.


Candidates suspended

Asked if he would apologise for cases of Islamophobia in his party, Mr Cleverly said: "Well, of course, I'm sorry. And I'm sorry when, you know, people do or say things that are wrong.

"I am confident that my party has a robust mechanism for dealing with it.

"We investigate this. It's done independently. We have independent people looking at this and they come to adjudications and where people have had to be either sanctioned or expelled from the party. That has happened."

The Conservative Party suspended a number of members last month after the Guardian supplied it with a dossier produced by an anonymous Twitter user containing examples of allegedly Islamophobic social media posts.

A number of members were also suspended in September, after the BBC highlighted 20 cases to the party of members posting or endorsing Islamophobic material online.

The Scottish Conservatives suspended a Glasgow election candidate, Flora Scarabello, after she was accused of using "anti-Muslim language".

And the party's candidate in Aberdeen North, Ryan Houghton, was suspended over alleged anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and homophobic comments he made seven years ago.

Mr Houghton has apologised for any hurt caused but insisted the comments were taken out of context.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×