LONDON: Britain’s ruling Conservatives on Saturday suspended their former deputy chairman from the parliamentary party, after he refused to apologise for saying London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan was controlled by Islamists.

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 UK amid increased polarisation since the outbreak of the war in Gaza last October.

“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.