New leader must tackle Islamophobia within UK ruling party: Muslim group
LONDON (AA) – The new British prime minister must treat “systemic” Islamophobia in the ruling Conservative Party seriously, according to the head of the UK’s leading Muslim organization.
As the party searches for outgoing Premier Boris Johnson’s successor, whoever wins “must represent everybody and they have to make sure that they do that fairly,” said Zara Mohammed, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.
She emphasized the need for “a commitment to zero tolerance on Islamophobia – a party pledge that there will be action where there are Islamophobic comments, whether that is dismissal, whether that is disciplinary.”
Mohammed did not discuss any one of the five candidates left in the race for the premiership, but did call out Johnson for his “alarming radio silence” on the issue and comments comparing women who wear the burqa to “letterboxes and bank robbers.”
She said Muslim communities felt there was a lack of “effective outreach” by Johnson’s government.
“I think is a time for us to see a leadership that is inclusive, that is willing to work with Muslim communities and all communities. We want to see that across the political spectrum, but certainly in the Conservatives with the leadership election coming up,” she said.
“Can we get a politics that we can be proud of, as opposed to embarrassed of?”
The Conservative Campaign Headquarters said it could not comment until the end of the leadership race in September.
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