Andy Burnham accuses Conservatives of racism 'double standard'

Andy Burnham has accused the Conservatives of a 'double standard' in the way it deals with racism. The Greater Manchester mayor claimed that the Tories call out anti-Semitism quicker than Islamophobia, referring to recent comments made by some Conservative MPs.

It comes after Lee Anderson, who was the deputy chairman of the Conservatives until last month, was suspended from the party after suggesting that London mayor Sadiq Khan is controlled by 'Islamists'. Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said that Mr Anderson was asked to apologise for the comments, but he was stripped of the party whip yesterday (February 24) because he did not say sorry.

Speaking on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mr Dowden said he does not believe the Ashfield MP was 'intending' to be Islamophobic. He also defended former home secretary Suella Braverman who claimed that Islamists are 'in charge now' of the UK.

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He said he disagreed with her comments, but said her remarks were in 'a different category' from Mr Anderson's. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg afterwards, Mr Burnham said the interview with the Deputy Prime Minister 'laid bare the Conservative Party's problem'.

The Labour mayor said: "Rightly, they take a very tough line on anti-Semitism, as Labour has been doing. But you see ambivalence when it comes to Islamophobia when you attempt to explain it away a little bit. That's what I picked up from the interview.

"I was listening very, very carefully to it and to me, there is no justification for saying Suella Braverman's comments are different. If the 'they' - 'they have got control' - if that was related to Jewish people, that would straight away be called out