LONDON: The UK’s ruling Conservative Party has criticized one of its top donors for his anti-Muslim remarks on an Italian news website.
Italian-born Maurizio Bragagni, the Republic of San Marino’s consul to the UK, claimed on the Saturno Notizie news site that Shariah is “de facto” law in parts of the UK, and that London is “worse than any African metropolis.”
London-based Bragagni, who has close links with senior Conservatives, has donated more than $800,000 to the party. He recently became a British citizen.
In the article, he also criticized the opposition Labour Party for its “anti-Judeo-Christian identity, which allows Islamic groups to feel at home, where they can find free space for their true political ideology.”
He added: “A subsidy state which supports large families, which gives houses to migrants who are themselves the majority, in short destroys western capitalism and individual freedom. The line between the Christian English majority rural areas and the foreign Muslim-run urban areas is becoming more marked.
“There are places in which Shariah law is de facto law. The English integration system has run aground.
“Why? After Brexit, migrants who continue to arrive in the UK are illegal migrants from Africa — European influxes have stopped.
“When these two influxes (European and non-European) used to be consistent, they allowed for a balance of diversity which made locals tolerant and therefore traditions weren’t at risk.”
Bragagni described London as suffering from “rising criminality and daily disruption on the Tube, chaotic traffic and sprawling confusion.”
A project to record anti-Muslim incidents, Tell MAMA UK, warned that Bragagni had made “outrageous anti-Muslim comments and racialized conspiracies” that “have no place in politics.”
In response to the donor’s comments, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “We were unaware of this recent article and in no way whatsoever condone these unacceptable comments.”
Bragagni said: “I apologize that my article originally written in Italian caused unnecessary controversy when translated.”
This week, the donor mentioned his “innate passion for journalism,” claiming that it fulfilled his desire to “drive positive changes in our society.”
