More than two-thirds believe parts of the UK are under Sharia law

Tuesday 30 July - A recent YouGov poll found that nearly half of Tory party members would prefer not to have a Muslim PM while more than two-thirds 'wrongly believe' that parts of the UK are under Sharia law.

The Muslim Council of Britain has condemned the findings as 'further evidence of "Islamophobia" endemic in the Tory Party'.

Boris Johnson is under growing pressure to deliver on his promise to set up an independent inquiry into 'Tory party Islamophobia'.

Senior Tories said the new Prime Minister must show he was committed to tackling the problem at every level of the party.

During the Conservative leadership election campaign, all the Tory leadership candidates agreed to establish an investigation when challenged by Sajid Javid during a debate. Mr Javid remains committed to making sure that the inquiry does finally take place.

Downing Street insiders suggested that Mr Johnson had no plans to water down the pledge and would deliver on it.

But former Tory party chairman Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said that 'the new PM now had to get on with it', and Lord Sheikh, founder of the Conservative Muslim Forum, added: 'I think that independent inquiry should be delivered now.'

The Muslim Council of Britain has demanded a full investigation should be launched by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and submitted what it claims are 150 incidents of 'Islamophobia'.

Mr Johnson has been accused of 'Islamophobia' himself over controversial remarks about women in burqas - describing them as 'letter boxes' and 'bank robbers'.

Anti-racism campaigners have expressed alarm at some of his appointments since taking over at No 10 including Chloe Westley, who leads the Downing Street social media team, and who has praised the work of 'far-right, anti-Islam activist' Anne Marie Waters.

Author's comment: Personally, I am not looking forward to an expensive and pointless investigation into something that is not actually even a real thing. The word 'Islamophobia' should be consigned to the dustbin of history and replaced by 'Islamo-realism' or even 'Islamo-nausea' (because we're all sick of it.)