Hucknall MP to face no action over Islamophobia claims

Mr Spencer (Con) strongly denied claims made by former minister Nusrat Ghani last year that he said her ‘Muslimness’ was a reason for her sacking back in 2020.

Ms Ghani (Con), MP for Whealdon, was quoted in the Sunday Times in 2021 as saying she was told her ‘status as a Muslim woman’ was ‘making colleagues uncomfortable’ after she lost her ministerial role in the Department for Transport in a mini-reshuffle of Prime Minister Boris Johnson' s Government in February 2020.

She went on to say that she dropped the matter after being told her career and reputation would be destroyed if she persisted in asking about it.

When the allegations came to light, Mr Spencer, who was the Government’s chief whip, at the time, said Mrs Ghani’s claims were ‘completely false and he considered them defamatory’.

Now, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed he is taking no action against Mr Spencer after the lengthy investigation into the matter, concluded that he had not broken ministerial rules.

However, the PM's ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus has criticised Mr Spencer's handling of Ms Ghani's allegations and said lessons could be learned from the episode.

The BBC reported that, in a written response, Mr Sunak said: "In the absence of clear evidence, it would not be right to take further action."

He added that he ‘took seriously the need to treat others with respect and to avoid any suggestion of prejudice’.

But he said that he had spoken to Mr Spencer and Ms Ghani and encouraged them both to ‘pull together in the finest tradition of public service’.

A spokesperson for Mr Spencer said the MP would not be commenting at this time.