Islamophobia in the British Conservative Party
Allegations of Islamophobia in the UK Conservative Party have been made, including against senior politicians, such as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Zac Goldsmith.
See also: Racism in the British Conservative Party and Antisemitism in the UK Conservative Party
Baroness Warsi, former co-chair of the Conservative Party, said in 2018 that anti-Muslim prejudice had "poisoned" the party.[1] Many Muslim party members welcomed Warsi's comments, saying that they felt the issue had been marginalised within the party.[1]
In 2019, the prime minister Boris Johnson ordered a report into how the party dealt with accusations of Islamophobia and racism.[2] The final report, released in May 2021, said that anti-Muslim views were seen at local association and individual levels, that comments made by Goldsmith and Johnson "give an impression to some of a party and leadership insensitive to Muslim communities" and that the Conservatives' complaints team was "in need of overhaul", but denied that the party was institutionally racist.[3][4]
Background[edit]
Islamophobia as a topic of specific analysis "first entered the British political space" following the publication of Islamophobia: A Challenge for us all by the Runnymede Trust on behalf of the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia, published in 1997 to coincide with the election of Tony Blair's New Labour government (1997–2010).[5] Although the Human Rights Act 1998 and Equality and Human Rights Commission (both originating under New Labour) protected freedom of religion, Islamophobia was rarely discussed or called out as a specific area of concern in the New Labour years, especially following 9/11.[5]
Incidents[edit]
2000s[edit]
In October 2001, former prime minister Lady Margaret Thatcher was accused of Islamophobia when she said "I have not heard enough condemnation [of 9/11] from Muslim priests".[6] Zaki Badawi, then chairman of the Imams and Mosques Council said Thatcher "has always been detached from minority communities. That statement from a person of her stature will give encouragement to extremists to harass our community further".[6] Baroness Pola Uddin said Thatcher was "completely out of touch with reality. Perhaps she's forgotten that when they were part of the mojahedin, she was one of the Taliban's best international champions" and Gurbux Singh, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, urged Thatcher to "speak with care and dignity", adding "Those who criticise the response of Muslim leaders are either unaware of the strength of their condemnation or have been misled by the media exposure given to one or two extremists."[6]
Conservative politician Michael Gove's 2006 book on the supposed roots of Islamist extremism, Celsius 7/7, was criticised when it was published for "holding apparent hostile opinions towards Muslims", according to Richard Vaughan in the i.[7]
2010 election[edit]
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi (then co-chair of the Conservative Party) prioritised combating middle-class Islamophobia in her famous "dinner-table" speech, which said that Islamophobia has "passed the dinner table test" (i.e. that such prejudice was acceptable in polite company). This led the Coalition to support the creation of an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia, and establish the Cross-Government Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred. However, the decision to use 'Anti-Muslim Hate', rather than 'Islamophobia' for the Working Group was in response to a report by the Quilliam Foundation, who said that Islamophobia had been exploited by "Islamists and Wahhabis", and using such a term would be a "propaganda coup" to these individuals. No evidence exists to substantiate Quilliam's claims.[5]
Mayoral campaigns (2012–2016)[edit]
In 2012, Lynton Crosby was reported as saying that Boris Johnson's mayoral campaign should not get try to gain support from "fucking Muslims", instead focusing on wavering voters in the outer suburbs.[8][9]
2021 Racism and Islamophobia inquiry[edit]
Calls for an independent inquiry[edit]
In May 2018, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) wrote to Conservative chairman Brandon Lewis, urging an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, the publication of a list of Islamophobic incidents and the adoption of "a programme of education and training" on anti-Muslim prejudices within the party.[55] This MCB listed numerous examples of Conservative Islamophobia; most notable of these was by Tory MP Bob Blackman. He hosted events attended by Hindu nationalist Tapan Ghosh noted for what Labour MP Naz Shah refers to as "abhorrent views" on Muslims.[55][56] The MCB also listed nine incidents and said there were "more than weekly incidents" of Conservative candidates and representatives displaying anti-Muslim prejudice. The MCB argued these were the "tip of the iceberg" of Islamophobia in the Tory party.[55]
This call was supported by Baroness Sayeeda Warsi,[14] Baron Mohamed Sheikh,[57] Mohammed Amin (chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum),[58] and 350 mosques and 11 umbrella organisations across the UK.[59]
The MCB said the level of prejudice within the party was "astonishing" and that "We've seen MPs, councillors and members engage in bigotry that should have no place in a modern Conservative Party. Yet the constructive call by Muslim communities for an independent inquiry into the issue has been ignored again and again. Instead we hear excuses, denials and the responses we would expect when there is an institutional problem."[43] In response, Justice Secretary David Gauke said "Where there is evidence, we take action ... That is what the Conservative Party does and will continue to do. So I don't accept that criticism."[43] Dismayed with the response of Lewis and May, in 2019 Warsi wrote to the party's chief executive, Mick Davis, urging him to "show leadership" on the issue.[43]
In 2019, the prime minister Boris Johnson ordered a report into how the party dealt with accusations of Islamophobia and other accounts of internal racism, under pressure from Sajid Javid during the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election; this was broadened out from an initial commitment to an Islamophobia inquiry.[2]
Report publication[edit]
The final report, released in May 2021, said that anti-Muslim views were seen at local association and individual levels; that two-thirds of all incidents reported to the Conservative Party's main complaints team related to Islamophobic incidents, and three-quarters of all incidents recorded in the Conservatives' complaints database involved social media; that comments made by Zac Goldsmith against Sadiq Khan during the London mayoral campaign, as well as those made by Johnson himself in 2018, "give an impression to some of a party and leadership insensitive to Muslim communities" and that the Conservatives' complaints team was "in need of overhaul" and non-transparent. However, the report said that issues of Islamophobia were not treated differently to other issues of discrimination, and denied that the party was institutionally racist.[3][4]
The report was criticised by many victims of alleged racism and Islamophobia within the Conservative Party, who argued that the inquiry was too restrictive in its scope and focused too much on the handling of complaints, rather than address any underlying issues as to why Muslims may have felt uncomfortable in the party.[60][61]
Views of members[edit]
A 2019 poll of Conservative party members found 69% believed “there are areas in Britain that operate under Sharia law”, 45% believed “there are areas in Britain in which non-Muslims are not able to enter”
and that 39% believed “Islamist terrorists reflect a widespread hostility to Britain amongst the Muslim community”. 76% thought the party was already doing everything it needed to combat Islamophobia, with only 15% thinking more action was required.[62][63]
Another 2019 poll found 56% of members surveyed said Islam was “generally a threat” to the British way of life, and that 42% thought having people from a wide variety of racial and cultural backgrounds has damaged British society.[64]
Criticism and rebuttals[edit]
The allegations of Islamophobia within the Conservative Party have been met with some criticisms and rebuttals, with right-wing commentators in particular questioning the authority of the MCB and the term "Islamophobia" itself. Conservative Home Secretary Sajid Javid rejected calls from the MCB for an inquiry into the party and said "The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) does not represent Muslims in this country" and added "we don't deal with the MCB".[65] This view was echoed by Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch who stated that the MCB had a "political motive" in pressing allegations against the party.[66]
Author Douglas Murray, a frequent critic of Islam, who has himself been accused of Islamophobia,[67][68][69] has described comparisons of antisemitism with allegations of Islamophobia in the Conservatives as a "false equivalence". He stated "Clearly where people have called for violence against any group of people then such people have no place in a political party. But this shaving of a dozen or so people from the Conservative ranks has been described as a cleansing of 'Islamophobia' from the party" adding that "anti-Semitism is hatred or suspicion of Jews because they are Jews. It is an irrational prejudice built on centuries of stereotypes and hatreds which culminated in the worst crime in human history, on our continent, in the last century. 'Islamophobia', by contrast, is a term which can claim almost anything that the wielder claims it to mean."[70]
In an article titled No, Islamophobia is not the new Anti-semitism journalist and Spiked Online editor Brendan O'Neill criticised the term "Islamophobia", highlighted the past practice of the MCB of boycotting Holocaust Memorial Day in Britain, and alleged the allegations of Islamophobia were a means of deflecting attention from Antisemitism in the UK Labour Party. He concluded the article with "Anti-Muslim prejudice is out there, yes. But 'Islamophobia' is an elite invention, a top-down conceit, designed to chill open discussion about religion and values and to protect one particular religion from blasphemy. The war on Islamophobia is in essence a demand for censorship."[71]
Physician and writer Qanta A. Ahmed defended the comments made by Boris Johnson regarding full-face veils. Writing in the right-wing magazine, The Spectator she stated "As a Muslim woman observing Islam, I am fully supportive of Boris Johnson’s rejection of the niqab. And I wonder how many of the former Foreign Secretary’s critics understand my religion, what this form of dress represents and the subjugation it implies ... When Boris Johnson mocks the niqab, he is emphatically not mocking Muslim women because – and this is a point that we Muslims seem to be unable to get across to non-Muslims – there is no basis in Islam for the niqab."[72]
Opposition[edit]
A number of Conservative Party figures have spoken against anti-Islamic sentiment in British society and politics. Maurice Cowling, a leading conservative intellectual of the Peterhouse School described Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses as "a nasty, sneering, free-thinking book ... I can understand why the book is offensive and it didn't seem to me to be anything but offensive when I read it. Some thinking Moslems take a view of the nature of religion, and the incompatibility between Islam and liberalism, which runs parallel to what I'm saying in Mill and Liberalism".[73] During the aforementioned 2013 controversy surrounding Philip Hollobone and Gerald Howarth pressing then Home Secretary Theresa May to ban the wearing of the Islamic veil, Jacob Rees-Mogg wrote an article in The Daily Telegraph entitled "Ban the burka? No, Muslim women need our protection" arguing for free choice when it comes to dress and that it is "important to defend such a minority from the tyranny of the majority."[74]