Muslims in the party say their complaints over the issue have been brushed under the carpet
When Ahmed (not his real name) joined the Conservative party six years ago, he thought it was a natural fit. “A lot of Muslims share conservative values,” he says. “I stood to be a councillor, and there was talk of me going on to the party lists to become an MP.”
He says he worked hard during election time, increasing the south Asian vote in his ward in Yorkshire. But a simple question about postal votes to the MP suddenly made him feel like he did not belong in the party. “I just asked a question,” he says. “In no way did I insinuate that I was going to do anything silly or illegal regarding postal votes. But his response was ‘This is the UK, sunshine’. It was really patronising – would he have said that to someone not of colour? He was inferring that I wasn’t British.”
Related: Conservatives must deal with Islamophobia in party, says Warsi
It makes me feel like we are back in the days of Enoch Powell
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