APPARENTLY, Boris Johnson finally now understands how precarious his position is.

Staggeringly, the Prime Minister is said to have been remarkably blasé about his fortunes in recent weeks, even as his poll ratings plummeted and representatives of his party openly called on him to quit.

Although this perhaps isn’t surprising when we consider Boris Johnson’s career so far. He has been consistently rewarded for failure and inured from the consequences of his words and deeds over many decades in public life.

What’s one more scandal to a man like Boris?

But the wheels are coming off.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson orders Islamophobia inquiry into sacking of Tory minister

Last week, Tory MP and Standards Committee chairman William Wragg made a series of explosive allegations against his own party. He accused government whips of engaging in intimidatory behaviour against those who have spoken out against Boris Johnson. Mr Wragg said some of the reports he’d heard “would seem to constitute blackmail”.

He urged anybody with information to contact the Speaker of the House or the Metropolitan Police.

That intervention sparked a wider conversation about the culture at Westminster that facilitates and excuses bullying, threats and intimidation of MPs by party whips.

Christian Wakeford, who defected to the Labour Party shortly before PMQs on Wednesday, said he was threatened by a whip that he would not get a new high school in his constituency if he didn’t vote with the Government on a certain issue. He has since named the whip in question as former education secretary Gavin Williamson.

In a week dominated by Conservative Party chaos, Sunday wouldn’t have been complete without one more grubby tale.

But this latest one is serious and it goes far beyond the bitter infighting we’ve become so accustomed to from the party of government.

Nusrat Ghani, a Muslim MP, says that her faith was one of the reasons given by a government whip for why she was sacked as a minister in 2020.

Ms Ghani told the Sunday Times that she asked the government whip to explain why she had lost her post at the Department of Transport and was told that her “Muslimness was raised as an issue” and her status as a Muslim woman was “making colleagues uncomfortable”.

Ms Ghani also says that she was told that she hadn’t done enough to defend the party against allegations of Islamophobia.

She decided against pushing the matter further when she was told that if she persisted, she would be ostracised and her “career and reputation would be destroyed”.

Since the interview came out some Tory MPs tweeted in support of Ms Ghani, who is well-liked and rated within the party, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi described Ms Ghani as a “brilliant parliamentarian” and said that the allegations should be investigated and racism should be “rooted out” adding, “#standwithNus”.

In a series of late-night tweets, chief whip Mark Spencer self-identified himself as the person who had the conversation with Ms Ghani.

“These accusations are completely false and I consider them to be defamatory. I have never used those words attributed to me,” he said.

This latest development is too important to be lumped in with the partygate story and Boris Johnson’s fight to save his premiership.

Allegations of Islamophobia within the Conservative Party are not new.

Baroness Warsi, a former Conservative Party chairwoman, has previously accused the party of “institutional racism” and has been a long-standing critic of Islamophobic sentiment within the party.

She submitted evidence to the Singh inquiry, which was set up to investigate allegations of Islamophobia within the Conservative Party.

The report identified serious failings with the complaints process which Baroness Warsi said included the “victimisation of complainants painted as troublemakers for speaking out.

The Government line on Ms Ghani’s allegations is that they are unable to investigate unless she makes a formal complaint.

But how can she have any confidence that a formal complaint would be dealt with fairly when she has been treated so disgracefully by her own party?

What assurances can she expect to be offered that – regardless of the outcome – her complaint won’t count against her in the future?

The Prime Minister’s own Islamophobic statements were known before his party crowned him as leader. The impact of his vile words on Muslims – and Muslim women in particular – was known and yet, ultimately, disregarded.

READ MORE: Muslim Council of Britain demands legal probe into sacking of Tory minister

Nus Ghani was the first female Muslim minister to speak in the Commons. Her decision to speak out now is commendable.

While some of her colleagues have been publicly supportive, she will know all too well the backlash that is to come – not just from within the party, but from vile bigots and trolls on social media too.

Islamophobia isn’t just a Conservative Party problem. It’s a poison that needs to be rooted out across the UK.

How can we trust the party of government to tackle that societal harm when it shows no willingness to do so in its own ranks?