Tory ministers have repeatedly dodged calling Lee Anderson’s comment out for what they are
A clip of the Illegal Migration Minister on LBC has gone viral after his interview was cut short when he repeatedly refused to answer questions on Lee Anderson’s disgraceful comments about Sadiq Khan.
Tory MP Michael Tomlinson told Nick Ferrari on his LBC breakfast show this morning that Lee Anderson’s slur about Sadiq Khan was “wrong” but refused to call it Islamophobic or explain why it was wrong.
Tory ministers have repeatedly failed to call-out Lee Anderson for Islamophobia after the Tory party deputy chairman claimed last week that Islamists had “got control” of the mayor of London.
After asking the minister six times to explain why what Anderson said was wrong, and a further three times to confirm that what he said was Islamophobic, Nick Ferrari put the phone down on the Tory MP.
Ferrari initially asked Tomlinson what it was specifically about Anderson’s comments that meant he had to have the Conservation whip removed.
“What he said was wrong”, replied Tomlinson, who was then pushed to answer why it was wrong, to which he said “it was wrong because of what he said.”
Ferrari went on to say “lets try this a different way” before asking the Tory MP, “was it Islamophobic”, to which Tomlinson offered the same reply, “it was wrong” a further three times.
Ferrari eventually said: “I’ll have to curtail the interview there, I’m grateful for your time but enough already. Michael Tomlinson is the minister for illegal migration unable to answer a question.”
In a separate interview on Sky News this morning, Immigration Minister Tom Pursglove also had similar difficulties answering questions around further comments by Tory MP Paul Scully yesterday which perpetuated an Islamophobic myth, claiming that parts of Birmingham and Tower Hamlets in London with large Muslim populations have ‘no-go’ areas.
The Immigration minister repeatedly stated “I don’t recognise those comments” whilst also refused to say that Anderson’ comments were Islamophobic, seemingly parroting a Tory response line.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has said the Prime Minister Mr Sunak lacked the “backbone” to call out Islamophobia.Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues
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