by Hardeep Singh, Spectator
Membership of Angela Rayner’s new ‘Islamophobia’ working group has been announced. The group has been set up ‘to provide government with a working definition of Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia which is reflective of a wide range of perspectives and priorities of British Muslims’. The Labour party, the mayor of London and many Labour-led councils previously adopted the contested all-party-parliamentary group (APPG) definition, but Keir Starmer’s government distanced itself from the definition last year, confirming it wasn’t ‘in line’ with the Equality Act 2010, due to its conflation of race and religion. Islamophobia, the definition claimed, was a ‘type of racism’.
It remains to be seen if Rayner’s new group will place a robust emphasis on free speech, not least the ability to freely criticise religion, but also openly discuss subjects such as grooming gangs. Of course, defining ‘anti-Muslim’ hatred makes more sense than the vague catch-all term (and unsolicited mental health diagnosis) ‘Islamophobia’. But for now the government are opting to interchangeably use both terms, and this, we are told, will be a non-statutory definition.
Read through the group’s three-page ‘terms of reference’ document and you notice that the group has an alarming lack of inclusivity and transparency. Members include crossbench peer and CEO of Muslim Women’s Network UK Baroness Gohir (the force behind Muslim Heritage Month) and Akeela Ahmed, co-chair of the new British Muslim Network. They are among those tasked with giving advice to the deputy prime minister to, ‘understand and define unacceptable treatment, prejudice, discrimination and hate targeting Muslims or anyone perceived to be Muslim’.