UK Conservative MP suspended from party for Islamophobic comments about London’s mayor

Britain’s ruling Conservative party suspends the former deputy chairman from the parliamentary group after he refused to apologize for saying London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan was controlled by Islamists.

Pressure had been growing on UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Tories to act following lawmaker Lee Anderson’s contentious remarks yesterday, which have been widely condemned as racist and Islamophobic.

It comes as incidents of Islamophobia and antisemitism have spiked dramatically across the UK amid increased polarization since the October 7 massacre carried out by Hamas in southern Israel and the subsequent outbreak of the war in Gaza last October.

“Following his refusal to apologize for comments made yesterday, the chief whip has suspended the Conservative whip from Lee Anderson MP,” a spokesperson for Tory lawmaker Simon Hart says.

Hart’s chief whip position makes him responsible for internal Conservative Party discipline.

On the right-wing GB News channel Friday, Anderson claimed Islamists had “got control” of Khan, who was the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital when first elected in London in 2016.

“He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates,” added Anderson, the Tory MP for a seat in northern England.

His remarks prompted a flood of criticism from across the political spectrum, with Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds calling them “unambiguously racist and Islamophobic.”

Within hours, Hart’s office issued a statement announcing Anderson’s suspension. The MP has yet to comment on the decision.

Anderson will now sit as an independent lawmaker in parliament.