Sherwood MP to face no action over Islamophobia claims

Mr Spencer, a Conservative, 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, Conservative 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 she dropped the matter after being told that if she “persisted in asking about it she, would be ostracised and her career and reputation would be destroyed”.

When the allegations came to light, Mr Spencer, who was the Government’s chief whip at the time, took to Twitter to refute the allegations and 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 he had not broken ministerial rules.

However, Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM’s ethics adviser has reportedly 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 said he “took seriously the need to treat others with respect and to avoid any suggestion of prejudice”.

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”.

Mr Spencer has been approached for comment.