Appearing on GB News, also on Sunday, Dowden said he could not rule out that Anderson could be restored as a Conservative MP if he does apologise, but said it was a matter for the party’s chief whip…reports Asian Lite News
The deputy prime minister has declined to say whether Lee Anderson’s comments were Islamophobic and said the MP would have kept his role had he apologised.
On Saturday Anderson was suspended as a Conservative MP after refusing to apologise for saying London Mayor Sadiq Khan is controlled by “Islamists”. Oliver Dowden told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that Anderson was not “intending to be Islamophobic”.
Labour has renewed its criticism of the Tory party’s response.
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In a letter to the prime minister, Labour said it was right to suspend Anderson “after his disgusting racist and Islamophobic remarks”.
Khan, mayor of London, has already said the comments were “Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist” and that they “pour fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred.”
On Friday Anderson prompted fury after he said: “I don’t actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London, and they’ve got control of Starmer as well.”
He later added: “People are just turning up in their thousands, and doing anything they want, and they are laughing at our police. This stems with Khan, he’s actually given our capital city away to his mates”.
On Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Dowden was asked repeatedly whether he would say those comments were Islamophobic. He declined to do so, but said: “I share concerns about how it could be taken that way.”
He went on to say: “The fact it could be taken that way is the reason why the [Conservative] chief whip asked for an apology”.
He added that he understood that Anderson’s comments “have caused offence”.
But he defended how the party had handled the situation, adding that asking him to apologise for the remarks was “the appropriate step to take”.
Appearing on GB News, also on Sunday, Dowden said he could not rule out that Anderson could be restored as a Conservative MP if he does apologise, but said it was a matter for the party’s chief whip.
Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth, who wrote to the prime minister on Sunday, called this “extraordinary” and said it suggested the Conservatives were “not taking the threat of Islamophobia seriously”.
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