Israel's war on Gaza is heightening tensions within the United Kingdom's political parties, where debates are becoming increasingly toxic. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer was criticized in mid-February for being slow to part ways with Azhar Ali, a Labour by-election candidate in Rochdale, northwest England, who had peddled conspiracy theories about Israel's role in the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. Starmer eventually dismissed the candidate to combat anti-Semitism on the British left.
The Conservative Party is now facing those same accusations of Islamophobia. On February 23, former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson told GB News that "Islamists" had "got control" of London mayor Sadiq Khan and that he has "given the city away to his mates," referring in no uncertain terms to the mayor's religion. Khan, a prominent member of the Labour Party, is a British Muslim of Pakistani origin. Anderson's comments echoed criticisms voiced by his Tory colleagues, who have condemned the mostly pacifist pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have been held regularly in London since October.
Suella Braverman, another right-wing Tory figure, described the demonstrations as "hate marches" in the autumn. She was home secretary at the time, and her statement was part of the reason for her being removed from her post by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in November. In an op-ed published in the Telegraph on February 23, the now MP repeated Anderson's words verbatim, believing that "the Islamists, the extremists and the anti-Semites are in charge now" in the UK. Khan, a mayor with a strong commitment to community cohesion, deplored the "Islamophobic" and "racist" remarks and regretted that Sunak had not condemned them more firmly.
The British leader didn't speak out until Monday, deeming Anderson's comments "wrong," without going so far as to point to racism or Islamophobia. Sunak seems afraid of provoking a revolt on the right of his party, which sees Anderson as a trump card for retaining the working-class vote in the north of England. He fears that the former miner could be recruited by the far-right Reform UK party, now credited with 13% of voting intentions, according to a YouGov poll dated February 22.
But the Conservative Party is far from being a monolith. It still includes moderate figures and many Muslim elected representatives, who have not taken kindly to either Anderson's remarks or Sunak's relative indifference. Sajid Javid, former chancellor of the Exchequer under Boris Johnson and a Muslim of Pakistani origin, described the Midlands politician's remarks as "ridiculous." Sayeeda Warsi, a member of the House of Lords and former minister under David Cameron, told the Guardian that Sunak should call out anti-Muslim racism and anti-Muslim bigotry. "Why can't he just use those words?" Warsi added. "If you can't call racism racism, if you can't call anti-Semitism anti-Semitism, and if you can't call Islamophobia Islamophobia, then how are we going to fix it?"
You have 33.38% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.