by Andrew Gilligan, Spectator
Image: Wikimedia Creative Commons
A new body paid millions of pounds to be the Government’s official monitor of anti-Muslim hatred has made multiple false claims about attacks on mosques, and other claims for which it refuses to provide evidence, The Spectator can reveal. One of the most serious supposed attacks on mosques was actually on a building labelled as a synagogue. At least two of the supposed attacks on mosques never took place.
The British Muslim Trust (BMT) was the source for an alarming report on ITV News on 25 September which claimed, quoting the BMT, that “a mosque is now attacked every five days in the UK,” with “over 70 attacks on mosques” in the 12 months to July 2026. “Serious harm from arson or violence” made up almost 20 per cent of attacks on mosques in the most recent nine months of that year, compared with less than four per cent in the first three months of the 12, the BMT claimed.
“For many Muslims in Britain, the mosque is a place of safety,” said the ITV presenter. “But new figures suggest that’s changing. The British Muslim Trust…says attacks are not only more frequent, but more severe.”
In emotive interviews for the piece, Muslims said they felt like “moving targets” and there was a “huge sense of fear.” The BMT’s chief executive, Akeela Ahmed, said its work showed “we are facing unprecedented levels of anti-Muslim hostility and Islamophobia.”
For the best part of a week, I have been asking the BMT for the data behind these frightening claims, including a list of all the “over 70” (in fact 78) supposed attacks on mosques which they say happened in the year to July 2026. They said they would publish this data by the end of August – six weeks ago – but have still not published it. At the third time of asking, they told me that they “do not have time” to send me a full list.