At PMQs last week, Kemi Badenoch told MPs that Labour’s adoption of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslim’s definition of ‘Islamophobia’ has inhibited public discussion of rape gangs.
She pointed out that, according to this definition, anyone who draws attention to the over-representation of Muslims in the grooming gangs is guilty of Islamophobia. This, she argued, is why some members of the Parliamentary Labour Party have been ‘scared to tell the truth’.
She’s right, but as the FSU’s Director of Digital Communications, Freddie Attenborough, points out for The Spectator, the problem runs deeper than that. Here’s an extract:
The definition Mrs Badenoch referred to was drawn up by the APPG in 2018, when the co-chairs were Wes Streeting and Anna Soubry. It issued a report that defined Islamophobia as ‘a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness’ and went on to give examples of how this prejudice manifests itself. The definition was formally adopted by the Labour Party in 2019.
At the time, the report was criticised for defining Islamophobia too broadly. For instance, it says “claims of Muslims spreading Islam by the sword” are an example of “classic Islamophobia”. By that definition, Tom Holland’s book on the history of Islam – In the Shadow of the Sword – is Islamophobic. Another example the report gives is accusing Muslim majority countries of exaggerating or inventing claims of genocide perpetrated against Muslims. That would make anyone who disputes Iran’s description of Israel’s military operation in Gaza as ‘genocide’ an Islamophobe – including, ironically, Sir Keir Starmer.
Christian Concern’s Tim Dieppe, in a briefing for the Free Speech Union (FSU) published last year, warned that such a definition could severely curtail free speech, with people biting their tongues for fear of being branded Islamophobic.
These concerns have been brought into sharp focus in the past week because the APPG report gives the example of “grooming gangs” as a “subtle form of anti-Muslim racism”.
In the past, this has led to people who’ve drawn attention to the overrepresentation of Muslim men in grooming gangs being branded Islamophobic, even though we have good evidence of that. Data from 43 police forces in England and Wales for the first nine months of last year show that men of Pakistani heritage are up to four times more likely to be responsible for child sex grooming offences reported to the police than the general population.
But when Suella Braverman, then the Home Secretary, highlighted the over-representation of Muslim men in rape gang cases in 2023, she faced significant backlash, including from Ipso, the independent press regulator, which upheld a complaint by the Muslim Council of Great Britain.
It isn’t just the Labour Party that has adopted the APPG definition. Alarmingly, it has been embraced across the political spectrum. The Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Conservatives, Plaid Cymru, and the Scottish Greens have all formally adopted the definition. This means that members of these parties risk being sanctioned if they say anything that falls foul of the definition – including mentioning the religious or ethnic characteristics of the men found guilty in rape gang cases. (The Conservative Party has refused to adopt the definition, citing concerns over its potential impact on free speech.)
In 2022, the GMB Union, which has nearly 600,000 members, was the first trade union to adopt the definition.
The definition has also been widely adopted by local authorities. A Freedom of Information request conducted by Hardeep Singh for Civitas in 2023 revealed that 52 councils in England – approximately one in six – have adopted it. Many of these councils are in areas where grooming gangs have been operating. In these areas, councillors or council workers could face disciplinary action if they speak out against grooming gangs in ways that might be deemed Islamophobic under the APPG definition.
The FSU first encountered this particular restriction on free speech when we defended a district councillor in South Kesteven after she was investigated for allegedly Islamophobic social media posts. The council, which has adopted the APPG definition, conducted an investigation into her comments.
In another troubling case, a local councillor from Boston, Lincolnshire, was blocked from becoming Mayor after raising concerns about Islamic practices in Qatar during the 2022 World Cup. He too was accused of Islamophobia.
For public authorities to penalise councillors for saying things that are not unlawful, but run afoul of the APPG definition of Islamophobia, is a breach of the legal protections for political speech in the UK. Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees freedom of expression, particularly when it comes to political debate, where speech is given the highest level of protection.
In light of this, it’s reasonable to conclude that one reason there hasn’t been a more open public conversation about the rape gangs, and those who turned a blind eye haven’t been properly held to account, is because potential whistleblowers are worried about being accused of Islamophobia according to the APPG definition.
Given the growing adoption of the APPG definition across various political, governmental, and civic bodies, the risk is that even more voices will be silenced. Worryingly, sources within Angela Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have confirmed that officials are considering introducing a non-statutory definition of Islamophobia, which could have the effect of further inhibiting public discussion of this critical issue.
This is a dangerous path to go down, one that risks eroding the principles of free speech and open discourse that our democracy depends on. It’s not just about one political party or one particular issue – it’s about ensuring that all citizens retain the right to express themselves openly, particularly when tackling some of the most pressing issues of our time.
In light of the chilling effect the APPG definition of Islamophobia has had on discussion of the rape gangs, is it time to consign this term to the history books? As Christopher Hitchens said: “It is a word created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons.”
Worth reading in full.
