The Conservative Party has suspended 14 members for posting Islamophobic or racist comments on social media.
Comments found on a Facebook group in support of MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, Tory members posted comments calling for Muslims to be “turfed out of public office”, for the UK government to “get rid of all mosques” and calling Home Secretary Sajid Javid a “Trojan horse”.
The comments were first highlighted by Twitter user @MatesJacob.
Screenshots of the posts were then sent to the Conservative Party Headquarters by The Independent, who confirmed that disciplinary action was being taken against 14 out of 25 named individuals.
The remaining 11 were not members of the party.
The suspensions have come amid the Tories being described as “institutionally Islamophobic” by the party’s former chair, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.
Baroness Warsi made that statements after it was revealed that a Tory Part council candidate had previously been suspended for Islamophobic comments on social media.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
Peter Lamb was suspended in 2015 after posting numerous anti-Muslims statuses.
The Conservatives said that Mr Lamb was later readmitted and he “apologised for his comments”.
In response to the latest suspensions over abusive social media activities, a Conservative Party spokesperson said: “This Facebook group is in no way affiliated with the Conservative Party and many of the people identified on it are not party members.
“However, we have identified some people who are party members and they have been immediately suspended, pending further investigation.
“When we find evidence of members making offensive or inappropriate comments, we consistently take decisive action. Discrimination or abuse of any kind is wrong and will not be tolerated.”
