Fears of Islamophobia in the UK even as record number of Muslim MPs elected聽

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson waves as he arrives at Downing Street after meeting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, December 13, 2019. (Reuters/ File Photo)
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  • MCB warning comes after Johnson鈥檚 landslide election result
  • UK saw a record number of 220 women elected to the House of Commons 聽聽

LONDON: There is a 鈥減alpable sense of fear amongst Muslim communities鈥� in the UK, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has warned, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson secured a crushing victory in the 2019 general election.
鈥淲e entered the election campaign period with longstanding concerns about bigotry in our politics and our governing party. Now we worry that Islamophobia is 鈥榦ven-ready鈥� for government. Mr Johnson has been entrusted with huge power, and we pray it is exercised responsibly for all Britons,鈥� the MCB鈥檚 Secretary-General Harun Khan said. 
The warning came as accusations of Islamophobia within the Conservative Party continue to plague it.
Despite concern that Islamophobia is 鈥渙ven-ready鈥� for government, a record number of Muslim MPs were elected on Thursday, with 19 winning seats in the general election; an increase of four from the last election in 2017.
Of these, 15 belong to the Labour Party and the other four, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid, are Conservatives. 
As the UK saw a record number of 220 women elected to the House of Commons, this trend was also seen in the number of Muslim women, with 10 winning seats. 
Despite this, Muslims are still not proportionally represented in parliament.
Only 3 percent of the UK鈥檚 650 MPs are Muslim, whilst the country鈥檚 Muslim population stands at around 5 percent.
The MCB鈥檚 concerns about bigotry and Islamophobia were echoed on Thursday by ex-party chairwoman Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the first female Muslim cabinet member.
Warsi said the Conservative Party 鈥渕ust start healing its relationship with British Muslims,鈥� and the fact that her colleagues in the party had retweeted comments from Islamophobes Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins was 鈥渄eeply disturbing.鈥� 
She added: 鈥淎n independent inquiry into Islamophobia is a must 鈥� the battle to root out racism must now intensify.鈥�
The Tory peer has repeatedly called for an inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, and told BBC Radio 4鈥檚 Today program in November that the party had a 鈥渄eep problem鈥� with Islamophobia. 
鈥淩emember, we鈥檙e now four years into these matters first being brought to the attention of the party 鈥� the fact that we鈥檙e still prevaricating about even having an inquiry, and the kind of inquiry we鈥檙e going to have, shows just how dismissive the party have been on the issue of Islamophobia.鈥�




Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Labour MP for Bolton South East Yasmin Qureshi (L) attend a general election campaign event in Bolton, Britain December 10, 2019. (Reuters)


Later in November, Johnson apologized for the 鈥渉urt and offence鈥� that had been caused by Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, and said that an inquiry into 鈥渆very manner of prejudice and discrimination鈥� would begin by Christmas. 
Despite apologizing, he remained silent about his own comments on Muslim women wearing the niqab in his Daily Telegraph column in August 2018, when he wrote that Muslim women wearing it 鈥渓ook like letter boxes鈥� or 鈥渂ank robbers.鈥�
Fourteen party members were suspended in March after posting Islamophobic or racist comments on social media, and a member who had previously been suspended in 2015 for comments on social media was due to stand in local elections this year. 
Peter Lamb was readmitted to the party after he had served a suspension and apologized for his comments.
Lamb, who has since quit the party, tweeted in 2015: 鈥淚slam (is) like alcoholism. The first step to recovery is admit you have a problem.鈥�
Yasmin Qureshi, a female Muslim Labour MP, has held her Bolton South East seat since 2010 and was re-elected on Thursday for the fourth time.
Speaking to Arab News, Qureshi said many Muslims were 鈥渧ery fearful and very disappointed鈥� at Johnson鈥檚 victory.
鈥淕enerally, you can say whatever you want about Muslims in this country now and nobody is really bothered, nobody challenges it, and if it is challenged, it is very mildly dealt with.
鈥淚slamophobia is a big issue and although everybody rightly spoke about anti-semitism, there was not as much emphasis and talk about Islamophobia.
鈥淚slamophobia is not just in the Conservative party, it is actually in the establishment. It is especially present in the media in this country; most of the newspapers of our country are very right-wing and anti-Muslim.
She added: 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter whether you malign Muslims, it鈥檚 essentially okay, you can get away with it. That is sadly a reflection of the current state of affairs in the UK.鈥�