The Islamist threat is all too real – the Lee Anderson row must not obscure this
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Lee Anderson did the Labour Party a huge favour at the weekend.
You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from the shadow cabinet as reports emerged of the Ashfield MP’s latest “shoot from the hip” comments, this time alleging that London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, was being controlled by Islamists. The remarks were, at the very least, ill-judged, not least because it’s hard to see how Islamists could approve of the mayor’s almost constant celebration of “queer” culture and his generous public funding of rainbow-coloured street furniture.
But crucially, Anderson gave Labour a lifeline. For a few days there, Keir Starmer and his MPs were in danger of having to break their silence on the threat that Islamist militancy poses to Britain. After all, Starmer had himself made the case to the Speaker that House of Commons rules should be changed to allow his own MPs to perform the twin trick of abiding by the party whip and avoiding the condemnation (and associated threats and intimidation) of Israel haters and Hamas apologists.
Had the public debate about the extent to which pro-Palestinians have bullied and threatened elected representatives gone on interrupted for much longer, life would have become very uncomfortable for those politicians who have thrived on the pretence that Islamism is (a) not the threat that some claim, and (b) is actually a synonym for Islam itself. For the absence of doubt, (a) yes, it is, and (b) no, it’s not.
It is virtually guaranteed that whenever the spectre of Islamism and the terrorist threat it poses is put to almost any Labour MP, the reply is made: “But Jo Cox was murdered by a far Right terrorist”. And of course she was.
But given events before and since that dreadful day in June 2016, it is hardly credible to claim that Islamism hasn’t already caused death, injury and dread on an unprecedented scale. Must we really recount the evidence? Very well: let’s start with the fatwa passed by the Iranian regime on British author Salman Rushdie in 1989, forcing him to go into hiding for decades afterwards, none of which could protect him from the brutal attack that cost him an eye and nearly his life two years ago.
There was the 7/7 attack of London’s transport network in 2005 when 52 were killed and 800 others were injured in the largest ever terrorist atrocity on English soil. In 2010 there was the near-fatal knife attack on Labour MP Stephen Timms in his advice surgery. The Westminster Bridge attack in March 2017 claimed the lives of five people, including a policeman guarding the Houses of Parliament and injured 50 others.
The Manchester Arena bomb attack on teenage girls leaving a concert in Manchester in 2017 left 22 dead and more than a thousand injured. The London Bridge attack in 2019 saw five people stabbed, two fatally. In October 2021 David Amess MP was brutally murdered, again in his own constituency advice surgery. The same year, a teacher at Batley Grammar school was forced to go into hiding after he received death threats.
And then there are the many international examples of what can happen when Islamists are crossed, including the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris and, of course, 9/11.
All of the above were perpetrated by Islamists – people who believe that their religion gives them the right to use violence as a means towards establishing a worldwide “caliphate” under Sharia Law. Hamas, Al Qaeda and ISIS are among those organisations who adhere to this vile philosophy.
And there are evidently many individuals who live in Britain who believe the same thing. How much evidence do we need? How many more deaths are necessary to persuade our political leaders that this is not a drill, that the emergency is here and now and that action has to be taken to protect UK citizens’ lives and defend our secular freedoms?
But no, according to the Twitter feeds and public comments of Labour MPs in particular, the biggest problem that has emerged during the fraught public debate on the Israel-Hamas conflict has been a rise in Islamophobia, as exemplified by Lee Anderson. That is a very comfortable and easy topic to discuss. It places the righteous MPs in solidarity with the Muslim community and exempts them from having to ask difficult, if necessary, questions about the extent to which religious beliefs can excuse violent or intimidating behaviour towards others.
Last week’s pathetic sight of a Leader of the Opposition scurrying to the Speaker to seek favours for his party was not the result of Starmer’s fears about the rise of Islamophobia. It was about threats of violence and the safety of MPs who feel pressurised by the chanting mobs to vote against their judgment and consciences.
The comedian Frankie Boyle was helping Labour’s performance of this confidence trick at the weekend, Tweeting: “If I see the word Islamist, I just assume I’m about to read the incoherent ramblings of a crazed racist”.
That’s a message being applauded more widely than in showbiz. It’s a puerile and dangerous approach. If Islamism isn’t real, who committed all those acts of terrorism? Ordinary Muslims? And if talking about Islamism is racist, does that mean we can no longer refer to their crimes and their victims?
I fear the intended answer is “Yes”. How many times have we heard a Labour MP condemning the appalling treatment to which the Batley grammar teacher has been subjected, and how many times have those same MPs latched on to the latest row about Islamophobia?
Ah, but populism is exclusively a problem for the Right wing, apparently. According to the Left, the big issue is Islamophobia. Move along, folks. Nothing to see here. And remember to vote.
