The ruling Conservative Party in the United Kingdom suspended the former deputy chairman for refusing to apologize for Islamophobic comments he made about Sadiq Khan, the Muslim mayor of London.
Pressure had been growing on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Tories to act following lawmaker Lee Anderson's contentious remarks Friday, which have been widely condemned as racist and Islamophobic.
It comes as incidents of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have spiked dramatically across the U.K. since the outbreak of Israel's attacks on Gaza, which killed almost 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
"Following his refusal to apologise for comments made yesterday, the chief whip has suspended the Conservative whip from Lee Anderson MP," a spokesperson for Tory lawmaker Simon Hart said on Saturday.
Hart's chief whip position makes him responsible for internal Conservative Party discipline.
On the right-wing GB News channel Friday, Anderson claimed so-called "Islamists" had "got control" of Khan, who was the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital when first elected in London in 2016.
"He's actually given our capital city away to his mates," added Anderson, the Tory MP for a seat in northern England.
His remarks prompted a flood of criticism from across the political spectrum, with Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds calling them "unambiguously racist and Islamophobic."
Conservative business minister Nus Ghani, senior backbencher Sajid Javid and Tory peer Gavin Barwell were among senior Tory figures to join the complaints, with Barwell calling the comments a "despicable slur."
The Muslim Council of Britain said they were "disgusting" and extremist.
Khan, who labeled the comments "anti-Muslim" and "racist," had earlier Saturday complained about "deafening silence" from Sunak and his senior ministers in response, arguing that amounted to condoning racism.
Within hours, Hart's office had issued its statement announcing Anderson's suspension. The MP was yet to comment on the decision.
Anderson will now sit as an independent lawmaker in parliament.
