Islamophobia a ‘problem’ in UK’s ruling party

LONDON: Islamophobia within Britain’s ruling Conservative Party is a problem both at an individual level and beyond but falls short of "institutional racism", an independent investigation concluded on Tuesday.

The centre-right party has been dogged for years by accusations of anti-Muslim sentiment that have been levelled against members, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The former journalist’s comments comparing Muslim women in veils to letterboxes and bank robbers, in a newspaper column in 2018, contributed to a "widespread" perception that the Tories have a "Muslim problem", the report said.