Tory MP Lee Anderson has whip suspended over Sadiq Khan comments

Tory MP Lee Anderson has had the Conservative whip suspended after he refused to apologise for his widely criticised claim that London Mayor Sadiq Khan was controlled by "Islamists".

A spokesperson for the party’s chief whip Simon Hart said the decision had been made following the former Tory deputy chairman’s “refusal to apologise” for the remarks made on Friday.

Pressure had been mounting on Rishi Sunak to take action over the comments from the Ashfield MP, with Mr Khan saying the “deafening silence” of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet amounted to condoning racism.

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A spokesperson for Mr Hart said: “Following his refusal to apologise for comments made yesterday, the Chief Whip has suspended the Conservative whip from Lee Anderson MP.”

In an appearance on GB News, Mr Anderson had said: “I don’t actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London… He’s actually given our capital city away to hi s mates.”

Responding to the claim earlier on Saturday, Mr Khan said it was “Islamophobic, racist” and pours “fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred”. He told broadcasters: “These comments from a senior Conservative are Islamophobic, are anti-Muslim and are racist.

“We’ve seen over the last two days confirmation that over the last few months there had been an increase in anti-Muslim cases by more than 330%.

“I’m afraid the deafening silence from Rishi Sunak and from the Cabinet is them condoning this racism.”

The Muslim Council of Britain said the comment was “disgusting” and criticised the “silence of the party in the face of such extremism”.

Defence