New polling carried out by the HOPE not hate organisation shows that Conservative Party members, who will shortly decide who Britain’s next prime minister will be, don’t want a Muslim to be Prime Minister.
The online poll was conducted by YouGov between June 4th–18th with a total sample size of 864 adults.
It found:
- 67% of Tory members believe “there are areas in Britain that operate under Sharia law”, as opposed to just 18% who do not believe this to be the case
- 45% believe “there are areas in Britain in which non-Muslims are not able to enter”, as opposed to just 34% who do not believe this to be the case
- 39% of members believe that “Islamist terrorists reflect a widespread hostility to Britain amongst the Muslim community”
- Just 8% of members agreed that “I would be proud of Britain if we were to elect a Muslim as our Prime Minister”, while 43% agreed that “I would prefer to not have the country led by a Muslim”
- just 3% say that immigration policy should be geared to higher Muslim immigration, compared to 12% for people fleeing war, 16% for Jewish people and 25% for Christians.
- 40% of Tory Party members believe that we should lower the number of Muslims entering Britain, as opposed to just 5% who want to see fewer Christians or Jewish people enter the country.
- Just 8% of members think there is a problem of Islamophobia or racism towards Muslims within the Conservative Party. A massive 79% don’t think there is a problem
- Only 15% of members think the Conservative Party should be doing more to combat any Islamophobia or other racism within the party, compared to 76% of members who think the party is “already doing all it reasonably can to combat Islamophobia and other racism within the party”.
HOPE not hate, which is partially government funded, is now calling on the two main Conservative leadership candidates, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, to stand by their commitment made at last week’s leadership debate to hold an independent, external investigation into Islamophobia in the party.
Boris Johnson infamously disparaged Muslim women as looking like “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”. In the days after Johnson made his comments, Muslim women who wore the niqab reported having those words thrown at them as insults on public transport.
And In his Have I Got Views For Youbook, he wrote: “The proposed ban on incitement to “religious hatred” makes no sense unless it involves a ban on the Koran itself.”
HOPE not hate says it wants the Tories to:
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- Publicly acknowledging that there is a problem with Islamophobia in the Conservative Party
- Publicly commit to tackling it as the leader
- Establish an independent body to investigate Islamophobia in the party
- Agree to publish the definition of Islamophobia the party will use
- Agree to transparency in all disciplinary procedures
