from the Free Speech Union
The adoption of an official, government-recognised definition of Islamophobia is a demand made for many years by organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), in which leading members have also had a lengthy history of expressing extreme, Islamist views. It came closest to realisation when the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims issued a report containing such a definition in 2018. This was denounced by free speech advocates and liberal, secularist Muslims, who saw the APPG definition – that Islamophobia is “rooted in racism and a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness” – as likely to restrict public debate, as well as criticism of the Islamic faith. The APPG’s co-Chair at the time was Wes Streeting, who is now a strong contender to succeed Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.
In February 2025, the-then Communities Secretary Angela Rayner appointed a new five-member Working Group to deliver a definition of “Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia”. It is thought to have done so in October, although its report has not been published and FOI requests seeking to obtain it by the Free Speech Union have been refused. Leaks confirmed by one group member suggest that instead of the terms specified in its remit, it has instead produced a definition of “anti-Muslim hostility”. The FSU considers this to be no improvement, and likely, in the words of our Director Lord Young, to make it difficult to refer to Muslims doing anything wrong, granting them protections that people of other faiths don’t enjoy. Given that we already have laws against hate crime and discrimination, any definition would either be pointless, because it would do no more than restate existing legal principles, or would threaten free expression.
When setting up the Working Group, Rayner’s Ministry said it had been chosen as “reflective of a wide range of perspectives and priorities for British Muslims”. This briefing explodes that claim. In fact, four of its five members had already expressed support for the 2018 APPG definition when the Group started work, and none of them was on record as opposing the concept of a definition per se.
There was, for example, no representative from Tell MAMA, a body whose leadership has opposed defining Islamophobia, and which has received some £6 million from the Government to combat anti-Muslim hate crime and support its victims since 2012. Tell MAMA’s grant aid has now ceased – following a campaign against it led by one of the Working Group’s members, Baroness Shaista Gohir, and the husband of another, Nafeez Ahmed. His wife, Working Group member Akeela Ahmed, is now the Chief Executive of a new organisation, the British Muslim Trust, which is set to receive government grants of more than £2.5 million in Tell MAMA’s place, although it did not begin to operate until the autumn of 2025.