A TORY MP has been called out by a party colleague for a “nonsense slur” after calling parts of Birmingham and London “no-go zones” while being questioned about Islamophobia in his party.

Paul Scully was being interviewed on BBC Radio London after Lee Anderson said “Islamists have got control” of London mayor Sadiq Khan.

Those remarks – which led to him losing the Tory whip – came after former home secretary Suella Braverman said Islamist extremists are now controlling Britain in a Telegraph column, claiming the UK was “sleepwalking into a ghettoised society”. 

Asked about whether the Conservatives have an issue with Islamophobia, Scully went on to describe how people are concerned about their “neighbourhoods changing” before branding the Tower Hamlets borough of London and the Sparkhill area of Birmingham as “no-go zones”.

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf calls for investigation into Islamophobia in Tory party

Donald Trump has previously caused outrage after describing parts of London in exactly the same way. 

Scully, who represents Sutton and Cheam in Greater London, said: “The point I’m trying to make is if you look at parts of Tower Hamlets for example where there are no-go areas, parts of Birmingham, there are no-go areas, mainly because of doctrine, mainly because of people abusing in many ways their religion, because it’s not the doctrine of Islam to espouse what some of these people are saying. That is what needs to be addressed.”

He added there were people in “parts of the north” concerned about their “neighbourhoods changing”.

The comments have caused uproar in Birmingham.

Andy Street, the Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands, publicly called out Scully on Twitter/X as he stood up for the people of Sparkhill, an area of south Birmingham.

He insisted his colleagues at Westminster need to stop using “nonsense slurs”.

He said: “The idea that Birmingham has a ‘no-go’ zone is news to me, and I suspect the good people of Sparkhill.

“It really is time for those in Westminster to stop the nonsense slurs and experience the real world.

“I for one am proud to lead the most diverse place in Britain.”

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Actor and comedian Adil Ray – best known for creating and starring in Citizen Khan – accused Scully of racism, saying: "Goodness me. I thought Paul Scully knew better. Sparkhill a no-go area? Perhaps he’d like to tell Mr Khan that.

"Sparkhill is home to many communities and cultures, perhaps it’s your own prejudice that keeps you away.

"This is racism. Call it out. Enough."

It was put to Scully that the Islamophobia row in the Conservatives was not new given that, in January 2022, Tory MP Nusrat Ghani claimed she was sacked as transport minister in 2020 after she was told during a meeting in Downing Street that “Muslimness was raised as an issue”.

Mark Spencer, who was Boris Johnson’s chief whip at the time, later identified himself as the person alleged to have said this, but denied the claims. Spencer was cleared of rule-breaking last April.

On Monday, First Minister Humza Yousaf called for an independent, externally-led investigation to be carried out into Islamophobia within the Conservatives.

He described Anderson’s comments as “despicable” adding that he should be expelled from his party.

It comes after he branded Braverman “the worst of politicians” for her remarks last week.

Britain’s largest Muslim group has also written to the Conservative Party to call for an investigation into “structural Islamophobia” within the party’s ranks.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said Islamophobia in the party was “institutional, tolerated by the leadership and seen as acceptable by great swathes of the party membership”.