BORIS Johnson is under pressure to investigate claims a Tory minister was fired for being Muslim.
The party civil war over bullying allegations erupted after Nusrat Ghani insisted she was pushed out of her government job over her faith.
The MP claimed a whip told her that colleagues were “uncomfortable” with her being a female Muslim minister. And she was warned if she complained her career and reputation would be destroyed.
Downing Street insisted the PM had spoken to Ms Ghani at the time in summer 2020 about her worries and told her to register a formal complaint but she had not done so.
Ms Ghani, who spoke to whips after being moved from her transport minister job, said yesterday that “not a day has gone by without thinking about what I was told”.
Chief Whip Mark Spencer declared he was the one who had talked to her — but he denied her accusations and called them “defamatory”.
He insisted: “I have never used those words attributed to me. It is disappointing that, when this issue was raised before, Ms Ghani declined to refer the matter to the Party for a formal investigation.”
Deputy PM Dominic Raab said her accusations should be taken “incredibly seriously”. But he stated there would not be a probe into it unless she made a formal complaint.
Top Tories — including Cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and Nadhim Zahawi — last night backed Ms Ghani, piling pressure on the PM to intervene.
Mr Zawahi said: “There is no place for Islamophobia or any form of racism in our Conservative party. This has to be investigated properly and racism routed out.”
A Conservative spokesperson said: “If anyone has a formal complaint, we would always encourage them to do so.”
