Oliver Dowden declines to say whether Lee Anderson’s comments were ‘Islamophobic’

Oliver Dowden has declined to say whether he believes Lee Anderson “intended” to be Islamophobic when he claimed “Islamists” had “got control” of London and its mayor Sadiq Khan.

Mr Anderson was suspended from the Conservative Party on Saturday after refusing to apologise for the remarks he made during an appearance on GB News, which received widespread criticism.

On BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme today, Deputy Prime Minister Mr Dowden repeatedly declined to answer the host when she asked if Mr Anderson’s comments were racist, adding he “share concerns about how it could be taken that way”.

He also explained “the fact it could be taken that way is the reason why the [Conservative] chief whip asked for an apology”.

Mr Dowden also told how he thought that Mr Anderson was “not intending to be Islamophobic’” and Mr Anderson would have kept the Tory whip if he had apologised for his remarks.

Asked whether Mr Anderson would have kept the whip if he had apologised, he told Ms Kuenssberg: “Yes.”

Mr Dowden also told ITV News said he understood and agreed with Mr Anderson on his “deep frustration with what was going on this country right now”, adding his choice of words was “not appropriate”.

Mr Khan previously said the comments were “Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist” and that they “pour fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred.”

Business minister Nus Ghani and senior backbencher Sir Sajid Javid had been among Tory figures joining a growing chorus of criticism from across the political divide over the remarks.

Mr Dowden said Rishi Sunak had taken action because the comments were “wrong” and an apology from Mr Anderson was not forthcoming.

But the Prime Minister has not yet commented publicly on the remarks, with Mr Khan saying his “silence” amounts to “tacit endorsement” of Islamophobia.

Labour are calling on him to confirm that no “deals or undertakings” were offered to the former deputy chairman that would see him have the whip returned.

Critics including the London mayor and Tory peer Baroness Warsi have said the fallout is part of a wider problem within the Conservatives, with Mr Khan calling on the PM to stop what he described as a “moral rot” in the party.

Baroness Warsi later described Mr Dowden’s comments on Sunday’s media round as “disturbing, mealy-mouthed” and “evasive”, and claimed they demonstrated that “anti-Muslim racism is tolerated” by the Tories.

In the backlash since Friday, comparisons have been drawn with Labour’s recent handling of a leaked recording in which a parliamentary candidate suggested Israel had allowed Hamas’s October attack as a pretext to invade Gaza.

The party stood by Azhar Ali after he apologised but pulled its support after fresh reports emerged that he had blamed “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for the suspension of a pro-Palestinian MP.

The Prime Minister was among critics who hit out at Labour at the time for initially defending the aspiring MP, saying Sir Keir had only acted “under enormous media pressure”.

Mr Anderson said he accepted that Mr Sunak and Chief Whip Simon Hart had been been put in a “difficult position” and left with “no option” but to discipline him.

“However, I will continue to support the Government’s efforts to call out extremism in all its forms – be that antisemitism or Islamophobia,” he said in a statement.

Mr Anderson, a standard bearer for the Tory right, will now sit as an Independent unless he defects to another party that chooses to offer him its backing.

Additional reporting by Press Association.