STATEMENT
When I told the Prime Minister in June 2020 what had been said to me in the Government Whip’s Office I urged him to take it seriously as a Government matter and instigate an inquiry. The internal Conservative Party complaint process was very clearly not appropriate for something that happened on Government business – I do not even know if the words that were conveyed to me about what was said in reshuffle meetings at Downing Street were by members of the Conservative Party.
The Prime Minister wrote to me that he could not get involved and that the alternative was for me to give evidence to the Singh inquiry. Faced with no alternative I reluctantly gave my full evidence to that inquiry hoping that at the very least the facts would be made public, even if others might have given conflicting evidence. However, the Singh inquiry felt unable to publish ‘detailed or verbatim accounts’ or ‘evidence outside the remit’.
Not a day has gone by without thinking about what I was told and wondering why I was in politics, while hoping for the Government to take this seriously. Those that have not had their identity questioned cannot fully appreciate what it does to you. Now is not the time I would have chosen for this to come out and I have pursued every avenue and process I thought available to me, but many people have known what happened.
In my statement yesterday I was careful not to mention any names or implicate the Prime Minister. All I have ever wanted was for his Government to take this seriously, investigate properly and ensure no other colleague had to endure this. I have many things that I want to achieve in politics, not least my campaigns on human rights and genocide, and I am deeply disappointed that it has come to this.
Nusrat Ghani MP - 23 January 2022
