Tories Caught In A Lie About 'Tackling Islamophobia': TellMAMA say they are NOT Working With

Tory Chairman Brandon Lewis claimed last year that the party was 'working closely' with anti-Islamophobia organisation TellMAMA to tackle racism and bigotry - but TellMAMA have today said "We are NOT working through anything with the Conservative party. We offered, nothing has moved...".

It came to light following this offensive tweet by Blackpool North & Cleveleys Young Conservatives, in which they agreed with a party member that it should be acceptable to call someone a 'Paki'.

BN&CYC later deleted the tweet 'because of the outrage caused' but said 'We meant no offence, but stand by what we said'

Among those condemning their comments was filmmaker Anwar Akhtar, who works with organisations tackling Islamophobia.

He brought the matter to the attention of TellMAMA, who responded that they would be looking into the matter, as well as Brandon Lewis himself.

But after he remarked that they did not seem to have made much progress since becoming involved with the Conservative Party last year, TellMAMA responded:

In June last year, Brandon Lewis said the party would be working with TellMAMA specifically to address 'unacceptable attitudes' within local associations: In an article written by him for the Conservative Home website, he claimed they wanted to 'stamp out anti-Muslim abuse and discrimination'

"Yesterday, I met with TellMAMA, an organisation doing tremendous work to support and protect Muslims in Britain. They recognise that the Conservative Party has acted swiftly in disciplining members who have expressed unacceptable attitudes towards Muslims, but we should always be looking to do more to stamp out anti-Muslim abuse or discrimination of any kind. So I am taking the following steps:

First, the Conservative Party will work closely with TellMAMA to give local associations tailored advice, support and guidance to deal with abuse and bigotry robustly.

Second, I will make diversity training available to all members and association officers to improve awareness of discrimination and promote inclusion.

Third, I will be writing to local associations to remind them of the standards of behaviour expected from representatives of the Party and to stress the importance of promoting tolerance and inclusivity.Finally, I will ask all local associations to report back to CCHQ about how they have dealt with locally reported complaints.

So THAT'S clearly working out just peachy so far.....

At the time of writing Brandon Lewis has not responded - although he might be busy dealing with another racist 'gaffe' by Nadine Dorries, who is apparently unable to tell the difference between Ash Sarkar (of Novara Media) and Faiza Shaheen (prospective Labour candidate for Chingford). Commenting on Ash's appearance on the Marr show, and her opinions on - yes, you guessed it, VENEZUELA - Dorries tweeted:

For which she was understandably taken to task, including by ourselves

Anti-Muslim bigotry and casual racism alive and well and festering in the Conservative Party...