Muslim Tory peer who criticised Boris Johnson says he is facing 'politically motivated' attacks from own party

A senior Conservative peer has claimed he is the victim of a “politically motivated” assault from his own party over his attendance at a Tunisa conference because he was one of the most prominent critics of Boris Johnson’s niqab remarks.

Demands for the expulsion of Lord Sheikh came after it emerged the peer, who founded the Conservative Muslim Forum, had attended the same conference on Palestinian rights as Jeremy Corbyn four years ago.

While he said he had not attended the same wreath-laying ceremony as the Labour leader, the Tory MPs Zac Goldsmith and Robert Halfon claimed his presence at the conference itself was a breach of the Conservatives’ code of conduct.

The MPs wrote to Tory HQ suggesting the event was “no ordinary conference”, with evidence suggesting it “was addressed by antisemites and terrorists”.

In their letter, they continued: “We cannot, as a party, rightly and robustly criticise the leader of the opposition for his attendance at this conference while allowing the attendance of a Conservative peer at the same event to pass without comment or complaint. To do so would be to indulge in hypocrisy and double standards.

“In our opinion, Lord Sheikh’s attendance at this conference was hugely disappointing and raises significant questions that need to be answered.”

But Lord Sheikh told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he had attended the conference in “good faith” to speak about the Arab Spring.

“I did not meet any members of Hamas,” he said. “I was not aware that there were people there who had extreme views. I’m totally against extremism, I’m totally against any form of terrorism.”

He continued: “I think the complaints against me are politically motivated, I think the complaint against me is totally trivial.

“I think these people who are trying to complain about me are perhaps doing this because I have talked about what Boris Johnson has said being wrong.

“I was very surprised about the fact Zac Goldsmith has made the complaint. When Zac Goldsmith was standing for London mayoral election he made some unsavoury remarks about Sadiq Khan and that campaign backfired. I feel that Zac Goldsmith should have learnt following his failure to be elected mayor of London.”

Following the former foreign secretary’s contentious remarks last week – suggesting women wearing the niqab resembled “letterboxes” – Lord Sheikh said Mr Johnson should be thrown out of the party and had “let the genie out of the bottle” by inflaming tensions.

In a statement published on Wednesday, Lord Sheikh added: “The meeting was held in the context of the Arab Spring which affected the whole of the Middle East and North Africa.

“I arrived in the early hours and attended the conference which started at about 9:30am. I only attended the morning session as I left the conference to rest as I was very tired.”

He continued: “I have a very good connection with the Jewish peers and in fact I worked with Lord Palmer when the practice of Shechita and Halal meat was raised.

“We saw the relevant minister together and I spoke on this subject in the House of Lords. I have also looked at issues with the Jewish community relating to post-mortems and circumcision.

“At school, my best friend was a Jewish boy and I have connections with Jewish families.”