Campaigners against Islamophobia distanced themselves from Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the former chairman of Britain's ruling Conservative Party, as she reignited her feud with its leadership over Islamophobia.
Weeks after the Conservative chairman Brandon Lewis announced it would work with campaigners to fight the scourge, Lady Warsi said his efforts would not tackle "systemic prejudice" in the party.
"The current plan to tackle Islamophobia, however, is woefully inept," she wrote in the Guardian newspaper. "Lewis has oddly announced that he will work closely with the hate-crime reporting service Tell Mama.
"Hiding behind bureaucracy and using process as a fig leaf is not the answer."
Iman Atta, the director of Tell MAMA, told The National that Lady Warsi was mischaracterising its work. It has been at the forefront of the campaign to counter the letters threatening anti-Muslim violence and works with companies and institutions seeking to address prejudice.
"Our engagement with the Conservatives has been a discussion at an individual level," he said. "There is yet a more structural and deeper rooted plan to be developed and which needs to be done sooner rather than later and we will be pushing for this as good practice that must systemically iron out issues around anti-Muslim bigotry. We are clear about this and which looks at local and national issues. [The National] Read more
