by Jules Gomes, Middle East Forum
Investigative Report Finds All Commission Members Display Extremist Views
Every member of the U.K. government’s Working Group tasked with defining “Islamophobia” has expressed extremist opinions and has links to Islamism, a shocking report released by the Free Speech Union (FSU) on February 14, 2026, has revealed.
The 34-page investigation, The Islamist Links of the Government’s Working Group on Islamophobia, examines the relationships and public remarks of the five panel members and finds that its four Muslim members, as well as the chair, Dominic Grieve, an Anglican, have ties to Islamists.
Angela Rayner, then secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, set up the Working Group in February 2025. Members appointed to the panel as “technical experts” included Professor Javed Khan, Baroness Shaista Gohir, Akeela Ahmed, and Asha Affi. Dominic Grieve, a former parliamentarian and Attorney General, was made chair.
According to the report, four of the five panel members (including Grieve) had already expressed support for the controversial definition of Islamophobia produced in November 2018 by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims, which linked Islamophobia to racism.
The 2018 definition also prohibited mention of Muslims in Britain’s “grooming gangs,” historical references suggesting Islam had been imposed by force on conquered populations, and challenging claims that countries such as Israel had engaged in acts of “genocide” against Muslim populations.
The commission’s preexisting bias toward a restrictive definition of “Islamophobia” indicates that the Labour government has rigged the process from the start and that the panel fails to meet the objectivity standards required by the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies.