National Union of Student’s President, Zamzam Ibrahim, was due to speak at two sessions during the Conservative Party conference in Manchester. She withdrew from the conference stating that she cannot be part of a conference that “denies the bigotry faced by Muslims on a daily basis”.

“As president of NUS and a Muslim woman, I cannot in good conscience participate in a conference that openly and willingly denies my own lived experiences, and the bigotry faced by Muslims from the far right, from elements of our media and in communities across our country on a daily basis.”

It is thought she is responding due to a fringe event called Challenging “Islamophobia” where most of the event was about challenging the definition and use of Islamophobia rather than the actual problem of Islamophobia.

This feeling was echoed by Ex-Conservative Party Chair, Baroness Warsi. She took to Twitter stating she felt “sick to my stomach to see the party I chaired sink to such depths”

This comes as the party is still facing public scrutiny from the media and public over it’s pledge to deal with rampant Islamophobia inside the party.

Ex-Tony Blair adviser on race equality Trevor Phillips, who chaired the fringe event, said the reporting of the event was unrepresentative of what was actually said. “The idea that offends me is that what is being said here is that anybody who does not have the mark of approval of Baroness Warsi and others can’t have anything to say about the position of British Muslims and I think that’s wrong.”

This is the kind of strong principled Muslims leadership we need from and Muslims students should come out in full force in supporting Zamzam Ibrahim who will undoubtedly be facing backlash from Islamophobes inside and outside the Tory party.

There must be solidarity against hate and without it, we it is harder for Muslim organisations and leaders to fight an increasingly tide of Islamophobia.