Yahoo News Tories suspend 25 party members over Islamophobic and racist online posts
The Conservative Party has suspended a number of its members pending an investigation after a dossier suggested they had posted or endorsed Islamophobic and racist material online.
Twenty-five sitting and former Tory councillors were said to be among those named in the documents, which were obtained by The Guardian.
The party said all of those found to be Tory members had been "suspended immediately, pending an investigation".
"The swift action we take on not just anti-Muslim discrimination, but discrimination of any kind is testament to the seriousness with which we take such issues," a spokeswoman said.
"The Conservative Party will never stand by when it comes to prejudice and discrimination of any kind.
"That's why we are already establishing the terms of an investigation to make sure that such instances are isolated and robust processes are in place to stamp them out as and when they occur."
It is understood not all who were exposed in the dossier are members of the Conservative Party, but the party was unable to say how many members had been suspended.
The disclosure will increase pressure on Boris Johnson to hold an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the party, rather than a broader investigation into prejudice within its ranks.
Shadow equalities minister Naz Shah said: "The Conservative Party is rife with Islamophobia, racism and bigotry from top to bottom, but we have no faith that Boris Johnson will do anything about it.
"Johnson's comments about Muslim women looking like 'bank robbers' and 'letter boxes' were linked to a 375 per cent rise in anti-Muslim hate crime, and polls show a majority of Conservative Party members hold Islamophobic views.
"Boris Johnson must commit to a full independent inquiry into Islamophobia and stop pretending it doesn't exist in his party."
There are 15 current and ten former Tory councillors among the accused in the dossier sent to the party headquarters, according to The Guardian.
The paper reported that among the accused are Walsall councillor Vera Waters who is alleged to have said starvation in Africa was "nature's way of depopulation", adding that aid to Africa should stop to allow "mother nature to take her course".
Other comments include calls for banning all mosques, claims people of the faith want to "turn the world Muslim" and reference to followers of Islam as "barbarians" and the "enemy within", according to The Guardian's report.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole councillor Beverley Dunlop is alleged to have posted two messages on Facebook, one suggesting a ban on Mosques. In her response to the dossier she said the messages she had written were private.
Paul Marks, Conservative councillor in Kettering has railed on a number of times against London's Mayor Sadiq Khan and is alleged to have claimed Mr Khan "will always lobby against anybody or anything which finds itself in direct conflict with Islam”.
He allegedly added: "No doubt he will be voted in again by the exploding Muslim hordes that now dominate London and suppress any counter votes from the more white conservative outer London boroughs.”
Marks responded to the newspaper's request for comment saying his use of the word "white" was "completely irrelevant", adding that: "After all, Muhammad was probably paler than I am". He claimed to have never written the post.
The file of inflammatory posts was created by an anonymous Twitter user called @matesjacob who uses the account to campaign against racism.
Mr Johnson had pledged to hold an independent enquiry into the issue but has recently backtracked in favour of a "general investigation" into prejudice of all kinds within the party.
