It is time to suspend Dominic Grieve's anti-Islamophobia group
What a few weeks ago was dismissed as 'dog-whistle' politics or the agenda of the 'far-Right' – the scandal of mass grooming of girls by mostly Pakistani origin males – is now viewed very differently. This shifting ground greatly impacts attempts to establish a definition of 'Islamophobia ' – controversially signposted by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner in February.
A new Policy Exchange report How Not to Tackle Grooming Gangs: The National Grooming Gang Inquiry and a Definition of Islamophobia details just how difficult it has been, for over two decades, to describe openly what people could see about grooming gangs with their own eyes.
Let four examples suffice here. For her past work on Rotherham, Louise Casey was put forward for an 'Islamophobe of the year award' by one activist group. The late journalist Andrew Norfolk was vilified, as was then Labour MP for Keighley, Ann Cryer. In 2020, when broadcaster Trevor Phillips was suspended by Labour for alleged Islamophobia, the first charge listed was journalism where he had written of 'the exposure of systematic and longstanding abuse by men, mostly of Pakistani Muslim origin in the North of England.'
How ridiculous this orthodoxy now looks.
On one level, Government appears to accept this new reality. On Monday the Home Secretary declared 'those vile perpetrators who have grown used to the authorities looking the other way must have no place to hide.' As she spoke, she was surrounded by female Labour MPs who appeared chastened by the weight of events. And yet, there are grounds for pessimism. For the national inquiry into grooming gangs to work it cannot be placed in a straitjacket. It will need to shine a torchlight into every Whitehall office, every stalled police inquiry, each Town Hall in England, and every licensing arrangement between a local authority and a taxi firm. Its hands cannot be tied by political, social or religious considerations.
As Yvette Cooper spoke in the Commons, others were risking that very scenario. The call for evidence by Grieve's working group is underway, as he seeks to develop a new definition of Islamophobia. While ministers have said this would not be statutory, if accepted by the public and private sector (as activists will demand) it would in practice become binding policy if not law. To that backdrop, how confident would a care worker, teacher or local councillor in Rochdale or Rotherham be, about speaking openly on issues which concern them?
Angela Rayner should thank Dominic Grieve and his team for their work, then put the group on ice. If the grooming gang inquiry finds fears of prejudice and Islamophobia have undermined the response to grooming gangs, then the retirement of the Islamophobia Definition Working Group must become permanent.
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