Yorkshire CCC racism row Exclusive Part 1: DCMS committee buried sections of independent report in branding Yorkshire racist

The former player was asked by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee in November whether he lost his career for that reason after Yorkshire released him in 2018.

His affirmative reply went unchallenged despite the DCMS possessing a full copy of the independent report conducted by law firm Squire Patton Boggs over a 10-month period, which ruled that Yorkshire released Mr Rafiq “on factors relating to both his form and his attitude”.

Julian Knight MP, chair of the DCMS select committee, declined to publish the report under parliamentary privilege despite having demanded two months earlier that Yorkshire publish it to make it “public and open to scrutiny”.

Two weeks prior to the hearing, Mr Knight tweeted that he could not think of “any reason why the (Yorkshire) board should remain in post”, given the “endemic racism” at the club. He told the hearing that “we are not choosing to publish the report” because “it is Yorkshire’s mess”.

The DCMS published Mr Rafiq’s uncontested 57-page witness statement to a Leeds employment tribunal, which gave a completely different picture of events. Lord Kamlesh Patel, the Yorkshire chairman, settled that claim reportedly for £200,000 on taking office just before the DCMS hearing. In the statement, Mr Rafiq said: “I could do nothing about my fate. It was in the hands of those who had decided I had no future with the club. Unfortunately, their decision-making bias was because my face did not fit because of my race and my complaints of racism. It had nothing to do with my ability.”

However, extracts from the report, seen by The Yorkshire Post, dismissed the allegations, as put by investigators, that “the club failed to provide him with the support he needed during a difficult time for him (the loss of his still-born son earlier in 2018) and did not afford him the opportunity to play himself into contention for contract renewal”.

It upheld the club’s assertion that, as investigators put it, “they provided him with the support he needed and his race and religion played no part in the decision not to extend his contract”, which was “purely a cricketing one made in the best interests of the club”.

“The (investigating) team is satisfied on the evidence that has been reviewed that the decision to release AR from the club was made based on factors relating to both his form and his attitude.”

A spokesperson for Mr Rafiq said the club’s investigation was “deeply flawed” and the previous regime was “forced to concede” that “Azeem was the victim of racial harassment and bullying”.

At the DCMS committee hearing, in an exchange that provided one of its main soundbites, Mr Rafiq was asked by SNP MP John Nicolson: “Do you think you lost your career because of racism?”

“Yes, I do,” he replied.

“That must be a terrible feeling,” Mr Nicolson sympathised.

“It is horrible. Yes, it is horrible,” said Mr Rafiq.

“You are still a young man,” Mr Nicolson added. “To be looking, at your age, at a lost career must be very upsetting.”

The matter was not probed and, moments later, Mr Knight concluded the hearing.

The full report, which was never published, was initiated by Yorkshire after Mr Rafiq’s allegations in late 2020.

Mr Knight dismissed it at the DCMS hearing as “a difficult read” and “a Venn diagram of stupidity”. The report upheld seven of 43 allegations – Mr Rafiq said that he did not present his evidence in that way – from a failure to provide halal food at junior games to procedural failures to investigate racism complaints. The club is expected to admit charges of racism brought by the ECB despite opposition from past club officials.

A spokesperson for Mr Rafiq said: “Yorkshire CCC’s investigation into Azeem’s allegations was deeply flawed, as has been widely acknowledged.

“The report’s investigators, the panel and the regime that led Yorkshire at the time have a lot to answer for. Even with all those significant issues, however, the previous regime was forced to concede that there was ‘no question’ Azeem was the victim of racial harassment and bullying. The last two chairs have also conceded that YCCC has been guilty of institutional racism.”

Mr Knight was approached for comment via the DCMS Select Committee but did not respond.

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JULIAN KNIGHT MP, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, is a former journalistic colleague of Mark Leftly, the man who is heading up Azeem Rafiq’s communications team.

Mr Knight and Mr Leftly, who is head of public affairs at Powerscourt, a communications consultancy based in London and Dublin, worked together for several years on the Independent on Sunday.

Mr Knight was personal finance editor and Mr Leftly deputy business editor and then deputy political editor.

In addition to representing Mr Rafiq, Powerscourt’s clients have included Amber Heard, whose PR they handled during her court battle with former husband Johnny Depp.