Rishi Sunak “lacks the backbone” to call out Lee Anderson’s remarks about London mayor Sadiq Khan as Islamophobic, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The prime minister finally condemned Mr Anderson’s claims that “Islamists” have “got control” of Mr Khan as “wrong”, but refused to say whether they were Islamophobic and insisted the Tory party did not have Islamophobic tendencies.
Meanwhile, Mr Anderson doubled down on his remarks attacking Mr Khan, insisting that apologising would be “a sign of weakness” and accusing the London mayor of “double standards” for failing to call for pro-Palestine protests to be “cancelled”.
As calls mounted for an independent investigation into Tory Islamopobia, peer Barones Warsi accused the government of having “dragged its heels on any work” to tackle racism against Muslims.
And Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds alleged she had written to Tory party chairs seven times over the past three years calling for them to take action against Islamophobic racism in the party, telling the BBC: “This isn’t something that popped up five minutes ago, it is a continuing concern.”
