Investigation clears former chief whip Mark Spencer over sacking of Muslim Tory MP Nusrat Ghani

Rishi Sunak has stated no additional motion shall be taken towards minister Mark Spencer after an investigation cleared him of breaching the principles over the sacking of Tory colleague Nusrat Ghani.

In his investigation into alleged Islamophobia, Sir Laurie Magnus, the prime minister’s ethics adviser, stated it was not potential to find out what the then chief whip stated to Ms Ghani in two 2020 conferences.

However, he stated there have been “some shortcomings” in how Mr Spencer responded to the considerations raised by Ms Ghani.

Ms Ghani stated in response to the report that there was “no criticism or doubt expressed regarding my version of events”.

“Others will have to explain the report noting the ‘omissions’, ‘shortcomings’, ‘incomplete information’, ‘inaccurate briefings’ and claims ‘implied without evidence’ in their actions and story,” she stated.

Ms Ghani, who was sacked within the February 2020 reshuffle, claimed final January that she had been informed by a whip, whom she didn’t establish, that her “Muslimness was raised as an issue” at a gathering in Downing Street.

She stated she was additionally informed that her “Muslim woman minister status was making colleagues feel uncomfortable” and that there have been considerations she “wasn’t loyal” to the celebration as a result of she didn’t do “enough” to defend it towards allegations of Islamophobia.

In the quick aftermath of Ms Ghani’s feedback, Mark Spencer recognized himself because the the whip in query however denied her claims.

He described her allegations as “completely false”, including: “I consider them to be defamatory. I have never used those words attributed to me.”

Sir Laurie’s investigation centred on two conferences in March held between Ms Ghani and Mr Spencer, who as chief whip was accountable for imposing celebration self-discipline.

Ms Ghani claimed throughout these conferences that Me Spencer reported that her religion had been raised in “negative and discriminatory terms~” throughout the February reshuffle and this was a part of the rationale why she was sacked as a minister.

Sir Laurie stated he discovered “no evidence to suggest that negative comments about Ms Ghani’s faith were either made or had any resonance in the actual discussions that took place in the lead up to and during the government reshuffle in February 2020”.

However, he additionally stated it was “not possible to conclude absolutely that such comments were not made, but I have found no evidence of comments of the nature described by Ms Ghani being attributed in her case”.

“Three years have now elapsed since the meetings which triggered the commissioning of this investigation. Both Ms Ghani and Mr Spencer consider each other to be mistaken in their recollections and both remain aggrieved and personally affected by the impact of this public disagreement.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson ordered the probe in January last year after Nusrat Ghani alleged that she was told by a government whip, who she did not identify, that her “Muslimness was raised as an issue” at a gathering in Downing Street.

The investigation into Ms Ghani’s claims had been held up after Lord Christopher Geidt resigned as Mr Johnson’s ethics adviser in June 2022 over points referring to partygate.

Mr Johnson was then with out an ethics adviser for numerous months till Rishi Sunak turned prime minister.

Mr Sunak appointed his personal ethics adviser, Laurie Magnus, in December after coming beneath criticism for delays to the method.

Mr Magnus took over the investigation in February.