Labour MP Naz Shah has sparked debate after criticising No 10’s revealed boycott of a controversial Muslim organisation.
Sunday evening, the Daily MailThe No. 10’s ”secret boycott” of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) after Conservative leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt was criticised for meeting with the group in 2021.
Naz Shah told MPs in Monday’s confidence debate that she “[did] not know where to begin on the record of successive Conservative Governments on engagement with Muslim communities,” and referred to the MCB as a “mainstream Muslim organisation backed by mainstream British Muslim mosques, organisations and institutions.”
She died later tweeted that “No.10’s Boycott of the @MuslimCouncil is disgraceful. The days of Conservative Governments being able to support Muslim organisations based upon 1/2 people, and funded for their own purposes are gone!
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“Every community has a right to be heard by their government and so do British Muslims,” she went on.
Theresa May’s former joint Downing Street chief of staff, Nick Timothy, hit back at Shah’s remarks via Twitter, responding: “The “boycott” of the MCB began in 2009 under Gordon Brown, supported strongly Hazel Blears. It was prompted when Daud Abdullah signed the Istanbul Declaration, which justified terrorism, as MCB deputy secretary. I’m not aware the MCB has ever denounced the Declaration.”
Gordon Brown’s administration was indeed the first to sever ties with the body in 2009 after then deputy general secretary Dr Daud Abdullah co-signed a declaration that advocated Muslims partaking in “jihad” against the state of Israel.
Hazel Blears, then secretary of state in communities and local government, published an open-letter stressing that the government would never deal with the MCB unless Abdullah resigned. The organisation also distanced itself from this declaration. Blears was responded to by Abdullah in The Guardian newspaper, accusing her of an “ill-advised attempt to exercise control,” and threatened to sue her for libel. The government rejected Abdullah’s threats and no legal action was pursued.
Dr Rakib Ehsan is a social cohesion expert. Politics.co.uk in light of the controversy: “The UK Government is right to take caution over engaging with ‘community organisations’ that are not necessarily representative. Identitarian group-based advocacy tends portray Britain in a negative light. The reality of the matter that Britain is one of the best places to live as a Muslim.”
Mordaunt, who was knocked out of the Tory leadership race on Wednesday afternoon, tweeted about a meeting with MCB’s incumbent secretary Zara Mohammed last February. She stated that she “wish[es]Her [Mohammed] every success”, adding that she: “Look[s] forward to working with her and her team.”
Since her election as the MCB’s first female secretary last January, Mohammed has led it. She responded to Mordaunt’s post stating: “It was lovely meeting you @PennyMordaunt thank you for your encouragement and words of wisdom, look forward to challenging inequality and empowering more women.”
Shah has been no stranger to controversy herself, having been suspended from Labour in 2016 over 2014 Facebook posts that suggested Israel should be “relocated” to the USA. After the comments were made public she resigned as parliamentary assistant to John McDonnell, who was then shadow chancellor.
She died later told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme that while she “wasn’t anti-Semitic… what I put out was anti-Semitic”.
She told MPs that she “regretted” the posts that were made prior to her election as Bradford West’s MP, and the Labour whip was restored to her.
Politics.co.uk reached Penny Mordaunt MP as well as the Muslim Council of Britain to get their comments.
