Conservative Peer Accuses Shadow Justice Secretary of Instilling Fear Over Islamic Prayers

Exclusive: Tariq Ahmad, a Conservative peer and former counter-extremism minister, has accused Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, of 'instilling fear' among Muslims with his comments about public prayer.

Ahmad, who has been a party member for three decades, said he had raised his concerns with the party leadership and expected action to be taken.

The shadow justice secretary, Nick Timothy, has been at the center of a controversy after he claimed that Islamic prayers taking place in public were intimidating and un-British.

Ahmad said he had started to encounter anti-Muslim hostility on the streets, something that he had believed was consigned to the past.

He compared Timothy's comments to previous remarks by Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman about diversity and multiculturalism when they were still in the party.

Ahmad said he had raised his concerns, adding: 'Ultimately, Kemi has been someone who has deep insights and experiences from her own background and she knows that any party which aspires to be of the mainstream needs to be inclusive of people of all faiths.'

The Conservative peer also spoke candidly of how everyday racism had again cropped up in his life, and how he had encountered racial slurs in a way that he could not remember having happened for a long time.

Ahmad said he had raised his concerns with the party leadership and expected action to be taken.