UK Muslims live in fear as Sunak govt ignores dog-whistle Islamophobia of colleagues

The problem arose when former deputy chairman of the Tory Party, Lee Anderson, accused the first non-white mayor of London Sadiq Khan of being in “the control of Islamists”. Anderson, an MP from Ashfield in Nottinghamshire in north England, was referring to the massive pro-Palestine protests taking place in London almost every week, demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and an end to the killing of innocent civilians of Gaza.

Why pro-Palestine protests gained pace?

The huge mobilisation against the war has been drawn from every section of British society but has been reduced by politicians and political pundits as predominantly comprising Muslim zealots. There are around 4.3 million Muslims in the UK which is approximately 6.3 per cent of the population, and they alone have not been marching to end the war. Anderson was obviously alluding to the fact that as Khan is a Muslim, he was allowing the protests to take place in the British capital.

Immediately after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, Sunak’s government came out staunchly in support of Israel and its right to defend itself. However, as Israel launched its destruction of Gaza under the excuse of finishing off Hamas, killing thousands of innocent Palestinians mostly women and children, Prime Minister Sunak and much of the British political class remained mute spectators.

Beholden to the Jewish lobby which gives large donations to the Tory party coffers, Sunak remained staunchly behind Israel refusing to demand even a humanitarian pause let alone a ceasefire. As the death toll in Gaza continued to rise on a daily basis – the number of Palestinians killed being estimated to be as high as one lakh by the UN’s high commissioner for human rights at the time of writing this report – the disappointment and anger among the public with the political class also grew.

The destruction of Gaza and the murder of women and children in the name of destroying Hamas by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) horrified even Prince William, the heir to the British throne such that he also spoke up for an immediate end to the killings. This was a first for the royal family which generally does not get involved in politics.

Racist slurs against Khan

This is not the first time that the Pakistani-origin Khan has faced racist attacks. Even during his first mayoral election campaign in 2016, his Tory opponent Zac Goldsmith had cast racist slurs on Khan calling him ‘radical and divisive’ and ‘giving cover to extremists’. Ironically, Goldsmith, who identifies strongly with his Jewish identity, is the younger brother of Jemima Khan, ex-wife of cricketer and former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Londoners had repaid Goldsmith’s dog-whistle racism by electing Khan with a landslide majority. Since then, Khan has been re-elected for a second term, and will be standing again as the Labour Party candidate in the upcoming mayoral elections in May.

However, Goldsmith’s tactics severely harmed the Tory party’s relationship with British Muslims. “I was disgusted with the tone of his campaign and his repeated and risible attempts to smear Sadiq Khan,” wrote Mohammed Amin, the chair of Conservative Muslim Forum at the time in Conservative Home, the party magazine. He even went on to say that his wife, a paid-up member of the Tory party, was so disgusted that she had voted for Khan. The majority of Muslims in the UK are believed to support the Labour party.

Why’s Sunak govt reluctant to act

Anderson had the Tory whip removed from him the day after his cast his anti-Muslim abuse against Khan, but none in the Sunak government has called it for what it is. When questioned by the media if the comments were ‘Islamophobic’, ministers in the government have stepped around it saying Anderson’s comments were ‘wrong’ and have left it at that.

The Tories do not feel comfortable with the phrase “Islamophobia” because they are worried that it will shut down all criticism of Islam, not just hatred directed at Muslims. But at the same time the Conservatives are also reluctant to use the more precise phrase of “anti-Muslim bigotry” or “anti-Muslim hatred”.

Tory peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi urged Sunk to explicitly condemn anti-Muslim rhetoric in the party. Pakistani origin Baroness Warsi, who was a cabinet minister in David Cameron’s government has called out Islamophobia in the Conservative party in the past. She urged Sunak to break his silence and “find the language” to “call Islamophobia Islamophobia”. “There are always people with a long history of anti-Muslim racism who will hide behind the word Islamist when they actually mean Muslims,” said Warsi.

Sunak stays mum, worsens matters instead

Suella Braverman, the Indian-origin former home secretary whose husband Rael is Jewish, has used even harsher words than Anderson against Muslims. In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Braverman asserted that “Islamists are in charge” of Britain. She has been wanting a ban on the peaceful pro-Palestine marches from the moment they started calling them “dangerous anti-semite mobs”.

Instead of dousing the flames lit by Anderson, Sunak has added fuel to the fire. In a meeting with police leaders Sunak said UK is descending into “mob rule” and replacing “democratic rule” with a “pattern of increasingly violent and intimidatory behaviour” that is intended to “shout down free debate and stop elected representatives doing their job,” referring to the pro-Palestine marches.

His comments have been called “wildly exaggerated” and “risks delegitimising the rights of peaceful protests” by Tom Southerden of Amnesty International. The protest marches have been peaceful, although there have been dozens of arrests over ‘free Palestine’ signs and ‘from the river to the sea’ chants which are deemed as anti-semitic by the pro-Israel establishment.

While Braverman claims Jewish people in the UK are living in fear because of the pro-Palestine marches, recent figures have shown that the number of Islamophobic incidents has skyrocketed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Islamophobia Response Unit (IRU), a London charity, said there was a 365 per cent rise in reports of Islamophobic incidents in October last year. Another body that records anti-Muslim hate incidents called Tell Mama found that there were 2,010 Islamophobic incidents between October 7, 2023 and February 7, 2024, more than triple the 600 incidents reported during the same period the year before.

The dog-whistle Islamophobia by politicians like Anderson and Braverman is having a fearful impact on ordinary Muslims living in the UK.