The Chief Whip has strenuously denied a Tory MP’s claims that she was sacked as a minister partly because of her ‘Muslimness’.

Nusrat Ghani said that when she lost her job as a transport minister in 2020, a Government whip told her had been raised as an issue at a Downing Street meeting to discuss the reshuffle – and suggested that her faith was ‘making colleagues uncomfortable’.

The explosive allegations, made in an interview with The Sunday Times, sparked widespread condemnation from Conservative MPs and opposition parties, prompting calls for an inquiry.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said there was no place for Islamophobia or any form of racism in the party, and that Ms Ghani’s allegations must be ‘investigated properly and racism routed out’.

Yet in a dramatic move on Saturday night, chief whip Mark Spencer admitted that he was the individual who spoke to Ms Ghani – before strongly refuting her claims.

In a statement posted to Twitter (after deleting an earlier effort), Mr Spencer posted: ‘To ensure other Whips are not drawn into this matter, I am identifying myself as the person Nusrat Ghani MP has made claims about this evening.

‘These accusations are completely false and I consider them to be defamatory. I have never used those words attributed to me.’

The row ahead of a crucial week for Boris Johnson’s premiership, with Sue Gray, the senior civil servant investigating lockdown parties in Downing Street, expected to deliver her report.

The behaviour of the whips has come under intense scrutiny amid the backlash to partygate, with claims that their tactics amounted to blackmail and were used to pressurise Tory MPs seeking to oust the Prime Minister.

The Conservative Party has been repeatedly accused of Islamophobia, with an inquiry carried out two years ago by Professor Swaran Singh – but quickly branded a ‘whitewash’ by Muslim Tories.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said on Sunday that there will be no ‘specific investigation’ into Ms Dhani’s claims, which he branded ‘incredibly serious’.

‘If there are any claims like this they should result in a formal complaint which allows a formal investigation to take place,’ Mr Raab told Sky News’s Trevor Phillips On Sunday programme.

‘As the chief whip has pointed out, Nus hasn’t made a formal complaint. She was asked to do so. In the absence of doing so there will be no specific investigation into this.’

In her interview, Ms Ghani, the MP for Wealden, said she was shocked when the issue of her background and faith was raised during a meeting in the whips’ office after the mini-reshuffle in February 2020.

‘It was like being punched in the stomach. I felt humiliated and powerless,’ she said.

‘I was told that at the reshuffle meeting in Downing Street that “Muslimness” was raised as an “issue”, that my “Muslim women minister” status was making colleagues uncomfortable and that there were concerns “that I wasn’t loyal to the party as I didn’t do enough to defend the party against Islamophobia allegations”.

‘It was very clear to me that the whips and No 10 were holding me to a higher threshold of loyalty than others because of my background and faith.

Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds said there was a ‘rotten culture’ at the heart of government and that Mr Johnson and Tory chairman Oliver Dowden must launch an urgent investigation into Ms Ghani’s allegations.

‘This is just the latest allegation in a long list of appalling behaviour at the centre of government that the Prime Minister appears willing to overlook,’ she said.

‘This rotten culture starts at the top – the lack of respect in No 10 is embarrassing our country and letting people down.’

A spokesman on behalf of the whips office said: ‘These claims are categorically untrue. Ministerial roles are appointed on merit and rewards for hard work.

‘The Conservative Party does not tolerate any form of racism or discrimination.’

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