Anderson – a pugnacious populist – was suspended from the Conservative Party group in Parliament on Saturday, a day after he made the comments.

Asked whether his party has an Islamophobia problem, Sunak was quick to say: “No, of course it doesn’t”.

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“Racism or prejudice of any kind is completely unacceptable. It’s not British and we must stamp it out where we see it,” he added.

Opponents accused the Conservatives of deliberately raising tensions – in an election year – over pro-Palestinian protests that have been held most weekends, drawing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, since the Israel-Gaza conflict began in October.

The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, though there have been several dozen arrests over signs and chants allegedly supporting Hamas, a banned organisation in Britain.

Jewish organisations and many lawmakers say the mass marches have created an intimidating atmosphere for Jewish Londoners.

In an interview with right-wing television channel GB News, Anderson criticised the police response to the demonstrations, levelling the blame at the mayor.

He said: “The Islamists … [have] got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London,” and claimed Khan had “given our capital city away to his mates”.

The suspension means Anderson, a deputy chairman of the Conservatives until last month, will sit in Parliament as an independent unless he joins another party such as the right-wing Reform UK, formerly known as the Brexit Party.

Labour said the Conservatives must go further to tackle prejudice, noting that the party said Anderson was suspended for refusing to apologise rather than for his original comments about Khan.

He said some Conservatives were adopting “a deliberate, dangerous political strategy – a strategy to weaponise anti-Muslim prejudice for electoral gain.”

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Anderson said on Monday that he would not apologise and renewed his criticism of the mayor, saying Khan had “stood by and allowed our police to turn a blind eye to the disgusting scenes around Parliament”.

That was an apparent reference to a pro-Palestinian protest last week when the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was projected on to Parliament’s Big Ben clock tower.

Many Palestinians see the slogan as a call for an independent state and an end to decades of Israeli military rule over millions of Palestinians while others perceive it as a call for Israel’s destruction.

Anderson’s suspension comes as tensions over the Israel-Gaza war roil British politics, with some lawmakers saying they fear for their safety after receiving threats over their positions on the conflict.

Reports of both antisemitic and anti-Muslim abuse in Britain have soared since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.

Last week an attempt to hold a House of Commons vote calling for a ceasefire descended into chaos after House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle departed from parliamentary custom by allowing votes on motions from three different parties, sparking a walkout by the Conservatives and Scottish National Party.

Hoyle said he had been trying to ensure that all lawmakers had the chance to make their positions clear in a climate of threat and intimidation. He is currently facing calls for his resignation.

The Gaza war has also upended a special election this week for the northwest England seat of Rochdale. The Labour Party disowned its candidate for Thursday’s contest, Azhar Ali, for claiming that Israel allowed Hamas’ October 7 attack to happen as a pretext to invade Gaza.