Rishi Sunak has said no further action will be taken against minister Mark Spencer after an investigation cleared him of breaching the rules over the sacking of Tory colleague Nusrat Ghani.
In his investigation into alleged Islamophobia, Sir Laurie Magnus said it was not possible to determine what the then chief whip said to Ms Ghani in two 2020 meetings.
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 meeting in Downing Street.
Ms Ghani, who was sacked as transport minister in a February 2020 reshuffle, said she was also told that her “Muslim woman minister status was making colleagues feel uncomfortable” and that there were concerns she “wasn’t loyal” to the party because she did not do “enough” to defend it against allegations of Islamophobia.
In the immediate aftermath of Ms Ghani’s comments, Mark Spencer said he was the whip in question.
He described her allegations as “completely false”, adding: “I consider them to be defamatory. I have never used those words attributed to me.”
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 issues relating to partygate.
Mr Johnson was then without an ethics adviser for a number of months until Rishi Sunak became prime minister.
Mr Sunak appointed his own ethics adviser, Laurie Magnus, in December after coming under criticism for delays to the process.
Mr Magnus took over the investigation in February.
