Conservative Party: turmoil at top blamed for slow Islamophobia action

Turmoil at the top of the Conservatives party is to blame for its delays in fulfilling plans to tackle Islamophobia and other forms of discrimination in the party, an independent reviewer has found.

Professor Swaran Singh said the “political upheaval” of the past two years has affected the Tories’ ability to undertake the reforms he called for in his original inquiry into the issue in 2021.

The former equality and human rights commissioner’s review, published on Monday, (24 July) found the implementation of some of his recommendations has been “slow”.

It said training at the local level is “mixed”, and no formal process had been put in place to handle complaints of discriminatory behaviour involving the party's most senior members.

It also found a large amount of documentation in response to the investigation has not necessarily improved “awareness or action on the ground”.

Individuals coming forward with allegations were also said to need better care.

The original inquiry was established by the party following a series of allegations about Islamophobic behaviour among Conservatives.

It found Mr Johnson describing women wearing burkas as looking like “letterboxes” and “bank robbers” gave the impression the Tories were “insensitive to Muslim communities”.

“Politics is a rough business, but there is no reason why the complaints process should be indifferent or abrasive to the experience of individuals involved,” the report said.

The constant change at the top of the party was said to have had an “unavoidable impact on the day-to-day running” of the party.

Since he completed his report in May 2021, Boris Johnson was forced out as prime minister, as was his immediate successor Liz Truss in a period of tumult.

In the report, Prof Singh wrote: “The two years since the publication of the report have seen considerable political upheaval in the UK. In that time, the Conservative Party had three leaders and seven chairs.

“This turmoil has impacted on the party’s efforts to implement our recommendations.

“Change took longer than expected, and challenges resulting from the interdependencies between recommendations contributed to delays in implementation.”

One of the “biggest problems" were tackling issues at the local party level but he welcomed fresh action from Tory headquarters as he undertook his review.

In one case detailed in the review, a complainant was further distressed by no sanction being completed after nearly a year from the judgment – and the offending continued “undeterred”.

“No apology has been offered to the complainant, or demanded of the respondents, despite the panel imposing other sanctions,” the review said.

But the team welcomed the “wholehearted acceptance” by the party that it must implement the recommendations.

The review found that between April and June 2022 there had been 212 complaints relating to 137 incidents.

Of these, five complaints were categorised as bullying or intimidation, three cited sexual assault, two referred to criminal activity and one was about a member writing on an “alt-right” website.

Prof Singh made a number of fresh recommendations, including reviewing whether complaints against the most senior members should be handled independently.

Conservative chairman Greg Hands MP said: “The party has made significant progress on Professor Singh’s recommendations with 25 complete and just six ongoing.

“There is however still work to be done and this is a process of continual improvement, " he said.