The UK does not need an ‘Islamophobia tsar’

By singling out Muslims for special protection, the government is paving the way for new blasphemy laws.

‘We must all play our part in eradicating Islamophobia,’ Keir Starmer said before he became Prime Minister. ‘My Labour Party is committed to tackling it in all its forms.’ Given this government’s patronising and cynical efforts to pander to Muslim voters, one wonders whether the real problem is not Islamophobia, but Islamophilia.

According to a draft leaked to the Spectator, Starmer is about to unveil plans for an ‘Islamophobia tsar’. But what for? Hate crimes based on religion represent approximately 5% of those recorded, as compared to 14% for sexual orientation and 60% for race. Why not a ‘homophobia tsar’ or a ‘racism tsar’?

Of course, we shouldn’t be bothering with these tsars at all. It’s an odd term anyway, harking back to Russian autocrats before the revolution. But by creating a specific government role to tackle anti-Muslim ‘hostility and hatred’, Starmer is making clear that this particular community is one of his chief priorities.

There is nothing ‘progressive’ about any of this. No other belief system is deemed worthy of protection from ridicule or criticism, and in a free society it is intolerable that the government is singling out one ideology for special treatment. If I were Muslim, I’m sure I’d have something to say about a Prime Minister behaving as though I were some kind of pet in need of coddling.

This week the government issued its revised definition of ‘Islamophobia’, which it is now calling ‘anti-Muslim hatred’. This is some kind of progress, given that ‘Islamophobia’ is a nebulous term that was invented and propagated to curb criticism of the faith…

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