‘Deeply flawed’ Islamophobia definition should be dropped as it would ‘curtail free speech’ after grooming gang scandal, Keir Starmer warned_Nhy
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to scrap Labour‘s proposed new definition of Islamophobia – with warnings people’s free speech could be curbed, in the wake of widespread grooming gang scandals.
Pressure has been mounting on the Prime Minister after his government blocked calls for a public inquiry into rape and sexual abuse by gangs in Oldham.
The world’s wealthiest man Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X, has been waging online war against Sir Keir on the issue- accusing him of being ‘complicit’ in ‘the worst mass crime in the history of Britain’.
And Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has joined calls for a new inquiry into the handling of grooming gangs who have been exposed across the country, in cases where the abusers were predominantly Asian men.
Now campaigners fear a mooted new government definition of Islamophobia could undermine efforts to crack down on such crimes – after police and authorities faced accusations of being reluctant to investigate gangs for fear of appearing racist.
Officials at Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner‘s Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government are reportedly pondering whether to introduce a formal definition of Islamophobia.
The Labour Party has already adopted internally a version which was drafted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims.
Critics have highlighted how one element appears to suggest that using the term ‘sex groomer’ in relation to anyone of Muslim background could be deemed Islamophobic – and new concerns have been raised by Tell MAMA campaign group founder Fiyaz Mughal and Conservative frontbencher Robert Jenrick.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure over authorities’ handling of cases involving grooming gangs – and now over a potential new definition of Islamophobia
Shadow Justice Secretary and former Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has called for ministers to scrap what he called ‘a deeply flawed definition of Islamophobia’
Labour has also been accused of threatening to ‘curtail free speech’ by Fiyaz Mughal, founder of the organisation Tell MAMA which monitors anti-Muslim hate
There are fears that a proposed new official definition could ‘curtail free speech’, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Mr Mughal, whose Tell MAMA organisation monitors anti-Muslim hate, said: ‘Any definition needs to have a number of caveats attached which protect the right of individuals to question religion, to question certain behaviours attached to cultural elements and the right to have free speech defended in relation to blasphemy.
‘Bad behaviour wherever it is, in whichever religious group, needs to be called out. This does not mean that all Muslim or all Pakistani men are bad.
‘But when there is a concentration of issues within a certain group, we must hold the line in defence of our core values.
“There is a real danger that if they get the definition wrong, it will become the Achilles heel of Labour.’
Worries have also been raised by Shadow Justice Secretary Mr Jenrick, who finished runner-up to Ms Badenoch in last year’s Conservative leadership election.
He said: ‘The Government should drop its plans for such a deeply flawed definition of Islamophobia.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has said a full national inquiry into organised grooming gangs is ‘long overdue’
Elon Musk has repeatedly attacked Sir Keir Starmer on social media in recent days
‘Throughout the grooming gang scandal the false label of Islamophobia was used to silence people.
‘It appears the Government has learnt nothing and is determined to press ahead with a definition that will have a chilling effect on freedom of speech.’
The definition proposed by the APPG on British Muslims in 2019, when the group was chaired by former Conservative MP Anna Soubry and Labour’s now-Health Secretary Wes Streeting, states: ‘Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.’
Their report published in November 2018 states: ‘Let us be clear, the aim of establishing a working definition of Islamophobia has neither been motivated by, nor is intended to curtail, free speech or criticism of Islam as a religion.’
But other sceptics include Stephen Evans, chief executive of the National Secular Society, who said: ‘Conflating criticism of a religion with hatred towards Muslims distorts legitimate dialogue and undermines the vital principle of free expression.
‘Adopting a contentious definition of Islamophobia is more likely to escalate tensions than to address prejudice against religious minorities.’
Ann Cryer, a Labour MP who raised concerns about grooming gangs, warned that councils were ‘petrified of being called racist and so reverted to the default of political correctness’.
A Government spokesman has said of discussions about the APPG definition of Islamophobia: ‘We are committed to tackling hatred in all its forms, including Islamophobia, which has absolutely no place in our society.
Elon Musk hit out after Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips (pictured) refused Oldham Council’s request to launch a Home Office-led public inquiry into child sex exploitation there
‘We will take into account a range of views and outline any updates on the government’s position in relation to this in due course.’
The current row over grooming gangs erupted last week after it emerged Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips rejected a request by Oldham Council for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation.
She suggested it would be best for the local council to investigate the issue instead.
Mr Musk, 53, has said Ms Phillips ‘deserves to be in prison’, while Ms Badenoch said a full national inquiry into organised grooming gangs is ‘long overdue’.
And later Mr Musk accused Sir Keir, who was director of public prosecutions (DPP) between 2008 and 2013, of having allowed criminals to get away with abuse.
Last January a report found young girls were ‘left at the mercy’ of paedophile grooming gangs for years in Rochdale because of failings by senior police and council bosses.
The damning 173-page review covers 2004 to 2013 and sets out multiple failed investigations by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and apparent local authority indifference to the plight of hundreds of youngsters, mainly white girls from poor backgrounds, all identified as potential victims of abuse in Rochdale by Asian men.
Successive police operations were launched, but these were insufficiently resourced to match the scale of the widespread organised exploitation within the area.
The report follows reports by the same authors on grooming in Manchester and Oldham, which found authorities had again failed children, leaving them in the clutches of paedophiles.
Sir Keir Starmer -pictured in London in September 2009 – was Director of Public Prosecutions between 2008 and 2013
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which published its final report in 2022, described the sexual abuse of children as an ‘epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake’.
As DPP, Sir Keir gave the green light to the first grooming prosecution in Rochdale in 2013 – having acknowledged in 2012 that the perpetrators had escaped justice for years.
He suggested that ‘an issue of ethnicity’ coupled with a ‘lack of understanding’ of the victims had contributed to a failure to prosecute previous cases, which included dropping a major case in the town in 2009, during his tenure as DPP.
A Home Office study published in 2020 that found child sexual abuse gangs are most commonly made up of white men.
