News of Trevor Phillips’ suspension from the Labour party over allegations of Islamophobia has once again highlighted how the debate on racism is far removed from the lives of those on the receiving end.

Outrage on behalf of those accused of racism seems to have overtaken the moral outrage we should all feel at those engaged in it. Today it feels as if we’ve forgotten the lessons we fought and won on how racism operates, and how it hinders and harms our fellow citizens.

Trevor Phillips dismayed at Labour suspension over Muslim comments Read more

I’m astonished that, after decades of research and policies that improved our understanding on race, anyone still believes racism is only about the shade of one’s skin. It is not. Antisemitism is a form of racism – directed at Jews who come in many shades, black, brown and white. Racism is a demonisation and negative stereotyping of a group or perceived group, irrespective of the colour of their face.

The same is true for Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim. It’s why the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims, after wide consultation and evidence gathering, defined Islamophobia in 2018 as a “form of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”.

Phillips has said he is surprised and dismayed at Labour’s decision, and he has not yet had the chance to answer the charges directly, but his concerns over the use of the term “racism” in this definition is baffling. On the one hand, he vehemently contends that Muslims cannot be defined as a single race, so therefore cannot suffer racism. Yet elsewhere, he has repeatedly defined Muslims as a single group, who think the same, act the same and should all be held responsible for the same things.

In the past it appears that he has said that “Muslims are not like us”; he’s said that Muslims “see the world differently from the rest of us”; he suggested that British Muslims are “becoming a nation within a nation”; has said, “I thought Europe’s Muslims would gradually blend into the landscape. I should have known better,” which earned the approval of far-right leader Tommy Robinson.

In 2016, Phillips quoted anecdotal experiences of only seeing only one “Muslim” wearing a poppy at an event just days before Remembrance Sunday, and claimed many of the “African and eastern European” industrial site workers he visited on the same day were wearing poppies. It’s seemingly beyond Phillips’ comprehension that Africans and eastern Europeans might be Muslim, too.

This lazy stereotyping would be laughable were it not deeply hurtful for the many Muslims whose families served in either of the world wars, or who continue to serve in our armed forces.

The racialisation of Muslims was recently highlighted in the comments made by Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair. O’Leary, advocated the security profiling of Muslim men at airports, on grounds that they could pose potential threats. But even if this became policy, how would airport security staff identify who is and who isn’t a Muslim? The answer is, men would be identified on the grounds of their “perceived Muslimness”. The process of identification would therefore be one of racialisation: those who apparently “look like, sound like, behave like” Muslims would be grouped together and treated in a certain way. That is racialisation and can be racist.

Generalising and racialising an entire group on the actions of a few, quoting anecdotal examples to justify an opinion about a whole community, proposing exceptionalism in policy-making based on an individual’s perceived identity, and arguing that there is a hierarchy in racism are all tell-tale signs of racism itself.

Had Phillips been criticising Islam itself, he would not have fallen foul of the APPG definition. All parliamentarians involved in its drafting were united on this: the definition had to protect citizens, not a faith. We were clear that freedom of speech should not be undermined and that no religion is above criticism. Indeed, in Islam itself there is a great tradition of debate, discussion and disagreement about its teachings.

Phillips’s understanding of race, racism and the barriers to integration has sadly been flawed for many years – indeed, I critiqued his view in my 2017 book The Enemy Within: A Tale of Muslim Britain. Anti-racism campaigners have over the years become increasingly bemused at his pronouncements, given he was once chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

But one thing is clear: Phillips cannot treat Muslims as a homogeneous group when it suits him, then later deny they are racialised. Whatever the outcome of Labour’s inquiry into his Islamophobia, there’s no denying he has a case to answer.

• Sayeeda Warsi is a Conservative peer and former party co-chair