Nearly two dozen UK Conservatives suspended for Islamophobia

Advocacy group Hope Not Hate reveals ‘worryingly high’ levels of anti-Muslim prejudice in Britain’s governing party

FILE - In this file photo dated Thursday Dec. 7, 2006, Regents Park Mosque in London. British police say a man has been stabbed at the London Central Mosque near Regent's Park, Thursday Feb. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, FILE)
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The UK’s ruling Conservative Party on Sunday suspended nearly two dozen of its members over allegations they had posted Islamophobic comments online.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to carry out an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in his party during the party leadership election in 2019.

Five serving councillors are among the members suspended, the The Times reported, citing a file from rights advocacy group Hope Not Hate.

The group details a string of allegations against Conservative Party members. This is in addition to several dozen allegations of Islamophobia already under investigation by the party.

One former councillor, The Times reported, wrote that Muslims did not “deserve human rights” and showed “animal like behaviour”.

And one serving councillor, from the affluent county of Hampshire, warned of a “dangerous Muslim agenda for world domination in the name of Allah”.

Hope Not Hate conducted a poll of Conservative Party members that it said showed “worryingly high” levels of Islamophobia and “false perceptions about Muslims”.

Nearly two thirds of members said they thought Islam was “generally a threat to Western civilisation,” and nearly half believed there are areas of Britain that are off-limits to non-Muslims.

Hope Not Hate said it was calling for the party to take “immediate action" against the individuals. The group said it will "continue to demand that they take proper steps to tackle the Islamophobia crisis that has gripped the party at every level".

The group's campaigns director, Matthew McGregor, said the party needed to take its obligations to Muslim members and the wider community “much more seriously”.

Responding to the report, a Conservative Party spokesperson said: “All those found to be party members have been suspended immediately, pending investigation.

"The swift action we take on not just anti-Muslim discrimination, but discrimination of any kind is testament to the seriousness with which we take such issues."