Investigation clears former chief whip over sacking of Muslim Tory MP Nusrat Ghani

Rishi Sunak has said no further action will be taken against minister Mark Spencer after an investigation cleared him of breaching the rules over the sacking of Tory colleague Nusrat Ghani.

In his investigation into alleged Islamophobia, Sir Laurie Magnus, the prime minister’s ethics adviser, said it was not possible to determine what the then chief whip said to Ms Ghani in two 2020 meetings.

However, he said there were “some shortcomings” in how Mr Spencer responded to the concerns raised by Ms Ghani.

Ms Ghani said in response to the report that there was “no criticism or doubt expressed regarding my version of events”.

“Others will have to explain the report noting the ‘omissions’, ‘shortcomings’, ‘incomplete information’, ‘inaccurate briefings’ and claims ‘implied without evidence’ in their actions and story,” she said.

Ms Ghani, who was sacked in the February 2020 reshuffle, claimed last January that she had been told by a whip, whom she did not identify, that her “Muslimness was raised as an issue” at a meeting in Downing Street.

She said she was also told that her “Muslim woman minister status was making colleagues feel uncomfortable” and that there were concerns she “wasn’t loyal” to the party because she did not do “enough” to defend it against allegations of Islamophobia.

In the immediate aftermath of Ms Ghani’s comments, Mark Spencer identified himself as the the whip in question but denied her claims.

He described her allegations as “completely false”, adding: “I consider them to be defamatory. I have never used those words attributed to me.”

Sir Laurie’s investigation centred on two meetings in March held between Ms Ghani and Mr Spencer, who as chief whip was responsible for enforcing party discipline.

Ms Ghani claimed during these meetings that Me Spencer reported that her faith had been raised in “negative and discriminatory terms~” during the February reshuffle and this was part of the reason why she was sacked as a minister.

Sir Laurie said he found “no evidence to suggest that negative comments about Ms Ghani’s faith were either made or had any resonance in the actual discussions that took place in the lead up to and during the government reshuffle in February 2020”.

However, he also said it was “not possible to conclude absolutely that such comments were not made, but I have found no evidence of comments of the nature described by Ms Ghani being attributed in her case”.

“Three years have now elapsed since the meetings which triggered the commissioning of this investigation. Both Ms Ghani and Mr Spencer consider each other to be mistaken in their recollections and both remain aggrieved and personally affected by the impact of this public disagreement.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson ordered the probe in January last year after Nusrat Ghani alleged that she was told by a government whip, who she did not identify, that her “Muslimness was raised as an issue” at a meeting in Downing Street.

The investigation into Ms Ghani’s claims had been held up after Lord Christopher Geidt resigned as Mr Johnson’s ethics adviser in June 2022 over issues relating to partygate.

Mr Johnson was then without an ethics adviser for a number of months until Rishi Sunak became prime minister.

Mr Sunak appointed his own ethics adviser, Laurie Magnus, in December after coming under criticism for delays to the process.

Mr Magnus took over the investigation in February.

Read Entire Article