Keir Starmer has claimed the Conservative party \u201chas a problem with Muslims\u201d after the shadow justice secretary described an event where the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, joined others to pray in Trafalgar Square as \u201can act of domination\u201d.<\/p>\n
During PMQs, the prime minister urged Kemi Badenoch<\/a> to sack Nick Timothy over a post on X in which he shared a clip of Khan and other Muslims praying in the square.<\/p>\n Timothy wrote: \u201cToo many are too polite to say this. But mass ritual prayer in public places is an act of domination.\u201d He went on to say: \u201cThe domination of public places is straight from the Islamist playbook.\u201d<\/p>\n Starmer went on the offensive across the dispatch box on Wednesday as Timothy sat a few feet from Badenoch on her frontbench.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said last night that Muslims praying in public, including the mayor of London practising his faith, are not welcome,\u201d the prime minister said. \u201cIf he were in my team he would be gone. She should denounce his comments and she should sack him.\u201d<\/p>\n Badenoch defended Timothy, saying he was \u201cdefending British values\u201d, but the remarks have reignited a longstanding controversy surrounding alleged Islamophobia in the Tory party.<\/p>\n The leader\u2019s spokesperson sought to link the comments to a recent speech by Badenoch in which she claimed there was growing \u201cseparatism\u201d in society and denied that Timothy\u2019s intervention signalled a new policy. Decisions on whether events such as the one in Trafalgar Square could go ahead would be for the party\u2019s London mayoral candidate if elected, they said.<\/p>\n Former Tory MPs and members voiced criticism. Sayeeda Warsi, a former co-chair of the Conservative party who resigned the Tory whip in the House of Lords in 2024 citing concerns of double standards against minorities, said she had been getting messages all day from Conservatives<\/a> who are Muslims.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are asking where this is all heading, and they include people who are in senior leadership positions,\u201d said the peer, who continues to be a member of the party. \u201cIt makes British Muslims feel they are not welcome any more. On top of that, this is a sectarian approach, which is electoral suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n Starmer said in parliament: \u201cI have never seen her [Badenoch\u2019s] party call out anything other than the Muslim events. It is only when Muslims are praying \u2026 the only conclusion is that the Tory party has got a problem with Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n Timothy referred in his tweet to the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, telling his 82,000 followers on X: \u201cThe adhan \u2013 which declares there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger \u2013 is, when called in a public place, a declaration of domination.<\/p>\n \u201cPerform these rituals in mosques if you wish. But they are not welcome in our public places and shared institutions. And given their explicit repudiation of Christianity they certainly do not belong in our churches and cathedrals.\u201d<\/p>\n Timothy, a former special adviser to Theresa May who was appointed by Badenoch in January, added that he was not suggesting everybody at Trafalgar Square that night was an Islamist.<\/p>\n However, scholars said his interpretation of the adhan was wrong. Qari Assam, an imam at one of the largest mosques in Britain who advised Theresa May\u2019s government on measures to combat Islamophobia, said it was not a declaration of control but \u201ca simple call to worship \u2013 an invitation\u201d.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cTo frame such acts of devotion as threatening is to misunderstand the very essence of worship. It also risks singling out Muslims for practising what others are freely encouraged to do. This is the challenge that British Muslims are experiencing \u2013 they are singled out and discriminated against, fuelling demonisation and anti-Muslim hostility towards Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n Timothy doubled down on his comments in a tweet on Wednesday in response to criticism from Dominic Grieve, a former Tory MP and attorney general who chaired a working group that produced the government\u2019s new definition of anti-Muslim hostility this month.<\/p>\n Timothy accused Grieve of a \u201cwilful misunderstanding\u201d of his comments after Grieve asked the MP on X if he was advocating compulsory legislation targeting Muslims.<\/p>\n Prof Javed Khan, who served on the working group, suggested that Timothy\u2019s remarks could fall under the new definition of anti-Muslim hostility, although it would have to be proven that they came with intent.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally I think that politicians should be held accountable to a higher standard. Someone like Nick Timothy needs to be taking more care with their comments rather than pandering to the far right,\u201d he said. Khan has not responded publicly to Timothy, but on Tuesday he shared pictures on X of religious gatherings in central London, stating: \u201cHere\u2019s an Iftar (post-fast meal) in Trafalgar Square. And here\u2019s Easter, Diwali, Vaisakhi and Chanukah. London is, and will always be, a place for everyone. #UnityOverDivision<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer has claimed the Conservative party \u201chas a problem with Muslims\u201d after the shadow justice secretary described…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-482651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}