LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2022) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered an investigation into claims made by Conservative lawmaker Nusrat Ghani that she was sacked as a junior minister in 2020 over concerns that she is a Muslim, a Downing Street spokesperson announced on Monday.
"The Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Office to conduct an inquiry into the allegations made by Nusrat Ghani MP," the spokesperson said in a brief statement to reporters.
In an interview published by the Sunday Times, Ghani said that following her dismissal as a junior transport minister in February 2020, she was told by a senior Conservative lawmaker that her Muslim faith made colleagues "uncomfortable" and that her career would be "destroyed" if she tried to complain.
In a subsequent statement on Sunday, she said that she had directly informed Johnson about the matter but that the prime minister wrote to her that he could not get involved and suggested that she use the internal Conservative partys complaint process.
Reacting to the launch of a probe, Ghani wrote on Twitter that she welcomed the decision, and asked that all that was said in Downing Street and by her senior Conservative colleague be included in the terms of reference of the inquiry.
"As I said to the Prime Minister last night all I want is for this to be taken seriously and for him to investigate," she added.
The Islamophobia claims come as Johnson is facing calls to resign over a string of parties that were allegedly held in Downing Street during the COVID-19 lockdown.
