Tory MP
Michael Fabricant appeared to suggest Muslims could not be English when he accused a spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain of damaging "Anglo-Muslim relations".
It came in a debate about Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, with Miqdaad Versi, the council's media spokesperson, insisting on Twitter there were "hundreds" of examples of anti-Muslim prejudice in the party.
In a now-deleted tweet, he went on to add:
"Your spite and unpleasantness neither does the cause of tolerance in this country nor the cause of Anglo-Muslim relations any good at all."
But Fabricant – the MP for Lichfield – disregarded these claims, writing: "Mr Versi. I have read your unpleasant tweets about the #Conservative Party. The @Conservatives have NOT been investigated by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission."
Fabricant later admitted to HuffPost UK the tweet had been "sloppily worded" but stopped short of apologising.