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https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk...-government-blackmail-accusations-2022-01-22/
ONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A British lawmaker has said she was fired from a ministerial job in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government partly because her Muslim faith was making colleagues uncomfortable, the Sunday Times reported.
The allegation added to the turmoil Johnson's government is facing over parties held at his Downing Street office during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Nusrat Ghani, 49, who lost her job as a junior transport minister in February 2020, told the paper that she had been told by a "whip" - an enforcer of parliamentary discipline - that her "Muslimness" had been raised as an issue in her sacking.
The government's chief whip, Mark Spencer, said he was the person at the centre of Ghani's allegations.
"These accusations are completely false and I consider them to be defamatory," he said on Twitter. "I have never used those words attributed to me."
Johnson met Ghani to discuss the "extremely serious" claims in July 2020, a spokesperson from the prime minister's office said on Sunday.
"He then wrote to her expressing his serious concern and inviting her to begin a formal complaint process," the spokesperson said. "She did not subsequently do so."
"The Conservative Party does not tolerate prejudice or discrimination of any kind."
Ghani said in response that the Conservative Party complaint process was "very clearly not appropriate" because her dismissal related to her position in the government, rather than in the party.
"Now is not the time I would have chosen for this to come out and I have pursued every avenue and process I thought available to me, but many people have known what happened," she added in a statement.
Ghani's allegation came after one of her Conservative colleagues said he would meet police to discuss accusations that government whips had attempted to "blackmail" lawmakers suspected of trying to force Johnson from office over the lockdown parties.
The scandals have drained public support from both Johnson personally and his party, presenting him with the most serious crisis of his premiership.
ONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A British lawmaker has said she was fired from a ministerial job in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government partly because her Muslim faith was making colleagues uncomfortable, the Sunday Times reported.
The allegation added to the turmoil Johnson's government is facing over parties held at his Downing Street office during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Nusrat Ghani, 49, who lost her job as a junior transport minister in February 2020, told the paper that she had been told by a "whip" - an enforcer of parliamentary discipline - that her "Muslimness" had been raised as an issue in her sacking.
The government's chief whip, Mark Spencer, said he was the person at the centre of Ghani's allegations.
"These accusations are completely false and I consider them to be defamatory," he said on Twitter. "I have never used those words attributed to me."
Johnson met Ghani to discuss the "extremely serious" claims in July 2020, a spokesperson from the prime minister's office said on Sunday.
"He then wrote to her expressing his serious concern and inviting her to begin a formal complaint process," the spokesperson said. "She did not subsequently do so."
"The Conservative Party does not tolerate prejudice or discrimination of any kind."
Ghani said in response that the Conservative Party complaint process was "very clearly not appropriate" because her dismissal related to her position in the government, rather than in the party.
"Now is not the time I would have chosen for this to come out and I have pursued every avenue and process I thought available to me, but many people have known what happened," she added in a statement.
Ghani's allegation came after one of her Conservative colleagues said he would meet police to discuss accusations that government whips had attempted to "blackmail" lawmakers suspected of trying to force Johnson from office over the lockdown parties.
The scandals have drained public support from both Johnson personally and his party, presenting him with the most serious crisis of his premiership.
