Tory whips sacked me ‘because I am Muslim’
A MUSLIM Tory MP last night claimed that she was fired from her ministerial job because of her religion.
In an astonishing charge, Nusrat Ghani accused a party whip of sacking her because her ‘muslimness’ was ‘making colleagues uncomfortable’.
She lost her job as Transport Minister in a reshuffle.
Ms Ghani, 49, who is vicechairwoman of the 1922 Committee, said: ‘It was like being punched in the stomach. I felt humiliated and powerless. I will not pretend that this hasn’t shaken my faith in the party.’
Ms Ghani said that after she was asked to leave her Government post in February 2020, she believed it was just a ‘fact of politics’. But when she probed party chiefs further, she was shocked to hear that her faith had played a part.
She said she challenged whether this was in any way acceptable and made clear there was ‘little I could do about my identity’ but was told that ‘the party doesn’t have a problem and I needed to do more to
defend it’. She added: ‘It was very clear to me that the whips and No10 were holding me to a higher threshold of loyalty than others because of my background and faith.’
The MP for Wealden in East Sussex told The Sunday Times: ‘I was informed that if I persisted in raising this that I would be ostracised by colleagues and my career and reputation would be destroyed. After the threats from whips, I was extremely careful to follow procedure and when the procedure ran out of road I had no choice but to get on with my career.’
Last night the Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim
Zahawi, said: ‘There is no place for Islamophobia or any form of racism in our party. Nusrat
Ghani is a friend, a colleague and a brilliant parliamentarian. This has to be investigated properly and racism rooted out.’
A source close to the whips’ office denied the allegation.