Reject new definition of ‘Islamophobia’, MPs told

FORMER home secretary Sir Sajid Javid has urged ministers to reject a proposed definition of ‘Islamophobia’ amid fears it will stifle legitimate public debate.

He backed a Policy Exchange think- tank report yesterday which warned that the term is being regularly misused to silence open debate about contemporary issues.

In February, Lee Anderson’s comments about Sadiq Khan and London being under the control of ‘Islamists’ led to the then Ashfield MP being stripped of the Conservative whip.

But Rishi Sunak and other senior Tories refused to label his comments Islamophobic, igniting a row about the use of the term. Yesterday’s report points out that the term has been used to denounce proposals including commemorating victims of terror after October 7 by lighting up the Wembley Stadium arch in the colours of Israel.

The Government’s decision to proscribe the Hizb-ut-Tahrir group was also described by some critics as ‘Islamophobic’.

Now Sir Sajid and Labour MP Khalid Mahmood have joined forces to urge the Government to reject a ‘ legally binding definition’ of ‘ Islamophobia’ first proposed by the all-party parliamentary group on British Muslims in 2018. Sir Sajid said: ‘This new definition would make efforts to tackle hatred more difficult, it would be a serious threat to free speech and actually exacerbate existing divisions.’

He added: ‘This refreshed Policy Exchange report makes this compelling case again, at a worrying time when numerous councils and politicians have waved it through, with seemingly little consideration for its implications. No religion should be immune from criticism. Yet this definition would risk creating a blasphemy law via the backdoor by targeting legitimate speech.

‘Critics are right to question how such a definition would be consistent with freedom of expression, and also the potentially dangerous consequences of suppressing it.’

‘Risks creating a blasphemy law’