In a piece for the Spectator, the Free Speech Union’s Freddie Attenborough argues that the adoption of the APPG’s broad definition of Islamophobia, which stifles discussions about the over-representation of Muslims in grooming gangs, has led to a chilling effect on free speech. Here’s an excerpt:
At PMQs this week, Kemi Badenoch told MPs that Labour’s adoption of the All Party Parliamentary Group 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 the problem runs deeper than that.
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. …
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”. …
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.) …
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. …
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.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
There’s nothing left to say.
Isn’t accommodating these difficult to house prisoners the very reason sex case wings exist in men’s jails?
Lets not be coy here, they think it’s a good idea for a prisoner who probably still has a working todger to be kept confined with a bunch of real females?
What do you think will be the end result, apart from the illicit sh@gging….. there will be a whole lot of drama and jealousies and fights as humans do what they do, and a whole bunch of disruption. Even the armed forces have trouble with, errm, consorting on the job, so to speak, and they have careers to consider!
Maybe they should check that female prisoners are happy having a violent sex offender in the cell next to them.
Once again, I agree with the sentiment of this post, for personal reasons. I mean it’s ludicrous.
But isn’t this just more distraction politics? outrage on the right, outage on the left….meanwhile they, THEY, are screwing all of us. Divide and conquer. Distract and Act.
We are being played if we focus on what they want us to focus on.
The game, the REAL game, is chaos and control.
Blimey! That girl in the picture has a big cokc!
Has there ever been a more disgusting government in the UK than this insidious SNP? This is the government that wanted to spy on all our children with the Named Person Scheme, that was eventually declared illegal. This is the government that wanted to pour concrete in gas wells. This is the government that is being investigated for stealing it’s own Independence money and where Sturgeons husband is being investigated for having a 95 grand Jaguar and formerly expensive Motor Home in his mother’s drive in Dunfermilne. This is the government that will let men into our daughters’ toilets and changing rooms. —-I have never voted Labour but with tories in a meltdown I might be prepared to help bring these SNP parasites down and be rid of them by voting Labour tactically next year.
Since the SPS seems to want to overturn recent decisions made by the Scottish Parliament I expect to see officials charged with sedition.
I think letting them wear a frock and lippy and putting them where they belong – in a male prison – will do far more to help them with their gender identity.
Perhaps they should all be called Roger ….. to help the other prisoners.
This can only work if the authorities get snippy, snippy with the old forceps and scalpel before admitting the criminal to the jail.