LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered an inquiry into the claims of a Muslim former minister that he had been sacked from his government because of his faith, a spokesman said on Monday.
Former junior transport minister Nusrat Ghani's claims have sparked new controversy for Downing Street as Johnson awaits the findings of a separate investigation into the "PartyGate" revelations.
"The Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Office to investigate the allegations leveled by Member of Parliament Nusrat Ghani," the spokesperson said.
Johnson initially urged Ghani to file a formal complaint through the Conservative Party. But he declined, arguing that the charge focused on the government rather than the work of the party.
"The prime minister has now asked officials to establish the facts about what happened," the spokesman said, adding that Johnson "takes these claims very seriously".
Ghani welcomed the new investigation, which was announced after talks with Johnson on Sunday evening.
"As I told the PM last night, all I want is to be taken seriously and probed," she tweeted.
The Tory MP said the investigation should look into what both Downing Street aides and the Conservative whip in Parliament told him.
Ghani, 49, was sacked as transport minister in 2020, and told the Sunday Times that a whip at a meeting in Downing Street said his "Muslimism was raised as an issue".
She claimed that she was also told that "the status of Muslim woman minister is making colleagues feel uncomfortable", she claimed.
Chief Whip Mark Spencer, whose role is to keep lawmakers on board with the government's agenda, took the unusual step of identifying himself as the person at the center of the claims and vehemently denied the allegations.
Government whips were already in the limelight after another Tory MP accused Johnson of "blackmailing" backbench critics in the Partygate case.
Several conservatives have called on the prime minister to step down following revelations that his staff had frequent parties in Downing Street during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Johnson attended at least one gathering, but denied breaking the law, and appointed senior civil servant Sue Gray to investigate.
According to reports, Gray's report may come out this week.
In a newspaper column in 2018, Johnson drew widespread criticism by writing that burqa-wearing Muslim women looked like "letter boxes" and "bank robbers".