A FORMER Tory minister who has accused the Government of Islamophobia says Boris Johnson refused to intervene when made aware of her complaints.

Nusrat Ghani said she was told by an unnamed Government whip that her faith was “making colleagues uncomfortable” when she lost her job as a transport minister in 2020.

The claim was strongly denied by the chief whip Mark Spencer, who later identified himself on Twitter, and said her comments in an interview with The Sunday Times were “defamatory”.

Downing Street later announced that the Prime Minister had met with Ghani to discuss her “extremely serious claims” that she was sacked as a minister because of concerns about her “Muslimness”.

A No 10 spokesperson said in a statement that the Prime Minister invited her to make a formal complaint but she did not do so.

Downing Street added: “After being made aware of these extremely serious claims, the Prime Minister met with Nusrat Ghani to discuss them. He then wrote to her expressing his serious concern and inviting her to begin a formal complaint process. She did not subsequently do so.

“The Conservative Party does not tolerate prejudice or discrimination of any kind.”

READ MORE: Muslim Council of Britain demands legal probe into sacking of Tory minister

But Ghani has said she was told by Johnson that he could not get involved after she spoke to him about her claims.

In a statement, the Conservative MP for Wealden and former Department for Transport minister said she only wanted the Government “to take this seriously, investigate properly and ensure no other colleague has to endure this”.

She commented: “When I told the Prime Minister in June 2020 what had been said to me in the Government Whips’ Office I urged him to take it seriously as a Government matter and instigate an inquiry.

“He wrote to me that he could not get involved and suggested I use the internal Conservative Party complaint process.

“This, as I had already pointed out, 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.”

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said he would support Nusrat Ghani if she decided to make a formal complaint after Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab claimed there could be no inquiry without one.

Javid tweeted: “Nus Ghani is a friend and a credit to the Conservative Party.

“This is a very serious matter which needs a proper investigation. I would strongly support her in making a formal complaint – she must be heard.”