Boris Johnson’s ascension to the premiership has caused widespread anxiety in the British Muslim community. These fears have been heightened by a former leading conservative’s warning of the inherent dangers of Johnson’s leadership. RNA - Writing in the Middle East Eye, Mohammed Amin, the former chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum (CMF), says that Johnson is “uniquely disqualified” as leader as he doesn’t care about the distinction between “truth and falsehood” and he will stop at nothing to “advance his career”.
Amin’s intervention is important as he came under pressure to quit his position as the head of the CMF last month after he failed to show support for Johnson. He duly resigned on July 23 after Johnson was selected as the new Tory party leader.
Johnson’s attempt to position himself as a historian and an ideologue is a source of concern for British Muslim leaders, even establishment types like Mohammed Amin.
A prolific author, Johnson wrote The Dream of Rome in 2007, where in a provocative chapter entitled “And Then Came the Muslims”, he argues that Islam put the Muslim world “centuries behind”.
Johnson has also agitated against Muslims at a less intellectual level. In one of his controversial Daily Telegraph columns, exactly a year ago on August 05, 2018, Johnson likened Muslim women wearing burkas to “letter boxes”.
According to Press TV, the Muslim Council of Britain, a non-elected umbrella body which purports to represent hundreds of mosques and educational and charitable organizations, accused Johnson of “pandering to the far right”.
The new PM’s curious mix of ideological posturing and street-level prejudice will do little to address the deep-rooted problem of Islamophobia in the Tory party.
In a documentary called “Battle For The Tory Party” on July 08, the Channel 4 investigative programme, Dispatches, disclosed disturbing statistics about the extent of intolerance in the Conservative party.
According to Dispatches, 56 percent of Tory party members believe that Islam is a “threat” to the British way of life. Another poll by YouGov, on behalf of anti-racism group HOPE not hate, reveals similar shocking statistics.
According to the poll, which was conducted between 14-18 June, and included a sample of 864 Conservative party members, only 8 percent of Tories would be proud of Britain if the country elected a “Muslim as our Prime Minister”.
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