Facebook posts by Tory members reignite party’s Islamophobia crisis

Senior Conservatives have tried to downplay the anti-Muslim abuse

Britain's Home Secretary Sajid Javid is taking action to tackle hate crime. AFP

British Conservative Party members have been posting anti-Muslim comments on Facebook, urging each other to prevent Home Secretary Sajid Javid from becoming prime minister, adding to the Islamophobia crisis within the party.

Buzzfeed News reported that 20 Facebook users that claimed to be Conservative members made anti-Muslim comments on the platform.

However, senior Conservatives have denied that the party has an Islamophobia problem.

Prime Minister Theresa May previously told parliament: “The party chairman takes very seriously any allegations that are brought before the party and we will continue to do so”, though Brandon Lewis [Chairman of the Conservative Party] himself said he "would dispute that that is a problem that exists”.

Buzzfeed reported that a man who was in a closed group of Conservative members called Muslims "muzz rats", "sub human scum" and asked "why have we got them in our country?"

Another man, who wrote that he joined the party last week to get a hard-line Brexiter to become prime minister said: “Britain is not ready for a Muslim PM, that would be taking the absolute piss out of the country”.

Speaking about London Mayor Sadiq Khan, he added: “This man does not represent the United Kingdom, he is only the Mayor of Londonistan… Theresa May needs to get a grip of this Muslim Brotherhood stooge.”

Both Mr Khan and Mr Javid are from families of Pakistani descent.

One woman who wrote two days ago that she was staying as a Tory member “so that we can elect the right leader” wrote that the home secretary “will protect his own. He was sworn in on the Koran”.

The recent posts on social media have reignited the party’s Islamophobia crisis.

Commenting on the recent Facebook posts, recently retired former Conservative MP Nick Boles said the party leadership “needs to act decisively to cut this cancer out. Enough with the suspensions; we need to see expulsions”.

On March 25, Conservative Party has quietly reinstated the membership of 15 councillors who were suspended for posting racist and anti-Muslim content online, an investigation by a British newspaper has found.

Former Tory party chair and first Muslim woman cabinet minister, Sayeeda Warsi, said that the move to reinstate the councillors was “revolving door racism”.

“Another bunch of bigots found out,” she wrote on Twitter.

The party announced earlier in March that 25 party members had been suspended over anti-Islamic comments. Another 40 were suspended following previous investigations into Islamophobia.