The chaos in the Conservative leadership has delayed plans to tackle Islamophobia within the party

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An independent reviewer said the chaos in the Tory leadership has delayed plans to tackle Islamophobia and other forms of discrimination in its ranks.

Professor Swaran Singh said frequent changes in the leadership of the Conservative Party had affected the party’s ability to undertake the reforms it called for in its original inquiry into the case.

The former Commissioner for Equality and Human Rights’ review, published on Monday, found implementation of some of his recommendations has been “slow”.

Its original investigation was conducted by the party in the wake of a series of allegations of Islamophobic behavior among conservatives.

It found that Mr Johnson describing women in burqas as looking like “letter boxes” and “bank robbers” gave the impression that the Conservatives were “insensitive to Muslim communities”.

A recent review found training at the local level to be “mixed”, and the massive amount of documentation in response to the investigation did not necessarily improve “awareness or action on the ground”.

The review found that no formal procedures were in place to deal with complaints of discriminatory behavior involving senior party members.

It has also been said that individuals who come forward with allegations need better care.

“Politics is hard work, but there is no reason why the complaints process should be indifferent or detrimental to the experience of the individuals involved,” the report said.

The turmoil at the Conservative Party summit was said to have had an “inevitable effect on the day-to-day running” of the party.

“It took a long time for them to focus on this,” said Professor Singh.

Since he completed the original report in May 2021, Boris Johnson has been forced to step down as prime minister, as has his immediate successor Liz Truss, ushering in Rishi Sunak as prime minister.

“The two years since the report was published have seen significant political turmoil in the UK,” said Professor Singh.

(GT)

Professor Singh wrote in the report: “The two years since the report was published have seen significant political turmoil in the UK.

At that time, the Conservative Party had three leaders and seven chairmen.

These disturbances have affected the party’s efforts to implement our recommendations.

“Change took longer than expected, and challenges arising from the interconnection of recommendations contributed to delays in implementation.”

Professor Singh said implementing the reforms “took much longer than we expected”.

He noted the “biggest problem” of handling issues at the local party level, but welcomed the new measure from Tory HQ as he reviewed it.

In one case detailed in the review, the complainant was distressed that the sentence had not been completed nearly a year after sentencing – and the offense proceeded ‘unchecked’.

The review stated that “no apology was made to the complainant or demanded from the defendants, although the commission imposed other penalties.”

But the team welcomed the “sincere acceptance” by the party that the recommendations should be implemented.

Professor Singh’s update showed that there were 212 complaints relating to 137 incidents in the three months to June 2022.

Five complaints were categorized as bullying or intimidation, three were sexual assault, two indicated criminal activity and one about a member writing on an “alt-right” site.

Professor Singh issued a set of new recommendations, including a review of whether complaints against senior members should be dealt with independently.

Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands said there was “work to be done” to tackle Islamophobia

(PA wire)

Conservative Party chair Greg Hands MP said: “The party has made significant progress on Professor Singh’s recommendations with 25 complete and only six underway.

“However, there is still work to be done and this is a process of continuous improvement.”

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