Britain’s former equality tsar Trevor Phillips OBE has warned the sweeping new definition of “Islamophobia” is a “bullies’ charter” for Muslims inclined to censor criticism of Islam and Islamic practices.
Phillips, a former Labour politician and son of African-heritage migrants from British Guiana — now Guyana — who served as head of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) quango and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) which succeeded it from 2003 to 2012, warned that the definition would “make it illegitimate to criticise anyone who uses the fact that they are a Muslim or defending Muslims to make it impossible to contest their point of view”.
The definition, adopted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims, defines Islamophobia as “rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”, and has been endorsed by MP including London mayor Sadiq Khan, anti-Brexit Change UK (CUK) leader Anna Soubry, Labour’s David Lammy, and his controversial colleague Naz Shah, who once ‘liked’ and retweeted a social media post suggesting Muslim rape gang victims should “shut their mouths for the good of diversity”. [Breitbart London] Read more
