Labour MP Naz Shah has sparked debate after criticising No 10’s alleged “secret boycott” of a “controversial” Muslim organisation.
On Sunday evening the Daily Mail reported on No. 10’s ”boycott” of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) after Conservative leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt was criticised for meeting with the group in 2021.
Shah has been no stranger to controversy herself, having been suspended from Labour in 2016 over 2014 Facebook posts that suggested Israel should be “relocated” to the USA. After the comments were publicised she quit as parliamentary assistant to then shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
She later told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme that while she “wasn’t anti-Semitic… what I put out was anti-Semitic”. The Labour whip was restored to her later that year.
Shah told MPs in Monday’s confidence debate that she “[did] not know where to begin on the record of successive Conservative Governments on engagement with Muslim communities,” and referred to the MCB as a “mainstream Muslim organisation backed by mainstream British Muslim mosques, organisations and institutions.”
She explained:
“When I saw the front page of the Daily Mail last night and heard about the so-called “dodgy judgment” of the Minister for Trade Policy, the right hon. Member for Portsmouth North (Penny Mordaunt), in meeting a “controversial” Muslim group, I did not expect the meeting to be with a mainstream Muslim organisation that Members on both sides of the House meet on a regular basis.”
She later tweeted that “No.10’s Boycott of the @MuslimCouncil is disgraceful. The days when Conservative Governments could prop up Muslim organisations based on 1/2 people, funded for their own purposes is over!
“Every community has a right to be heard by their government and so do British Muslims,” she went on.
Theresa May’s former joint Downing Street chief of staff, Nick Timothy, hit back at Shah’s remarks via Twitter, responding: “The “boycott” of the MCB began in 2009 under Gordon Brown, supported strongly Hazel Blears. It was prompted by the MCB deputy general secretary, Daud Abdullah, signing the Istanbul Declaration which justified terrorism. I’m not aware the MCB has ever denounced the Declaration.”
Gordon Brown’s administration was indeed the first to sever ties with the body in 2009 after then deputy general secretary Dr Daud Abdullah co-signed a declaration that advocated Muslims partaking in “jihad” against the state of Israel.
The then secretary of state for communities and local government, Hazel Blears, published an open letter stressing that the government would not deal with the MCB until Abdullah resigned and the organisation distanced itself from the declaration. Abdullah responded to Blears in The Guardian newspaper, accusing her of an “ill-advised attempt to exercise control,” and threatened to sue her for libel. The government rejected Abdullah’s threats and no legal action was pursued.
In 2010 Blears’ successor as communities secretary, John Denham, restored relations with the MCB.
The government told The Guardian that: “The MCB … have made clear to us that Daud Abdullah signed the statement in question in a personal capacity.” Acknowledging that he had not disavowed the declaration, the government admitted that it still had “…concerns about the uncertainty of Daud Abdullah’s personal position on this issue” claiming that they would “not be engaging with him,” until he provided “the clarification that we have always been seeking”.
According to the MCB website, “only” the Conservative Party has had no formal ministerial engagement with the group in recent years. The organisation says it met with several Liberal Democrat ministers during the Coalition years.
Dr Rakib Ehsan, a social cohesion expert, told Politics.co.uk in light of the controversy: “The UK Government is right to take caution over engaging with ‘community organisations’ that are not necessarily representative. Identitarian group-based advocacy tends to portray Britain in an overly negative light. The reality of the matter is that Britain is one of the best places to live as a Muslim.”
Mordaunt, who was knocked out of the Tory leadership race on Wednesday afternoon, tweeted about a meeting with MCB’s incumbent secretary Zara Mohammed last February, writing: “Great to have met with @ZaraM01 today, to wish her every success and hear more about her plans. Look forward to working with her and her team. #IWD2021 @MuslimCouncil.”
Mohammed has led the MCB since her election as its first female secretary last year. She responded to Mordaunt’s post stating: “It was lovely meeting you @PennyMordaunt thank you for your encouragement and words of wisdom, look forward to challenging inequality and empowering more women #IWD2021″.
Mohammed told Politics.co.uk: “To date, the government has not given a valid reason for its self-imposed and opaque policy of non-engagement. Instead, we are subject to insinuations which deploy anti-Muslim tropes that we are extremist and un-British. In fact, we are a democratic, British organisation that represents a cross section of Muslim communities. We celebrate our communities, especially in initiatives that promote the common good. Mainstream voices in other faith communities are not treated in this way, nor should we.”
Politics.co.uk has reached out to Penny Mordaunt MP for comment.
