Former Tory party chair says ex-equalities chief’s views on race and integration are flawed

This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

Sayeeda Warsi has accused Trevor Phillips of having a flawed view of race and integration after he was suspended from the Labour party over alleged Islamophobia.

Phillips, an anti-racism campaigner who previously chaired the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), has been suspended pending an investigation and could be expelled.

None of the Labour leadership candidates have commented on his temporary ban or the investigation.

Writing in the Guardian, Lady Warsi, a former Conservative party chair, said: “Phillips’ understanding of race, racism and the barriers to integration has sadly been flawed for many years.

“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 homogenised 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.”

Phillips released a copy of the letter announcing his suspension, in which Labour cited prior statements including his reference to UK Muslims being “a nation within a nation” and comments observing how few wore Remembrance Day poppies.

He has condemned the suspension, which he claimed was a form of political gangsterism from the party under Jeremy Corbyn. Phillips has been severely critical of the Labour leader in the past, particularly on his handling of antisemitism in the party.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Phillips said he was surprised and dismayed by the move, and defended his comments about British Muslims.

“I’m kind of surprised that what is and always has been an open and democratic party decides that its members cannot have a healthy debate about how we address differences of values and outlook,” he said.

“They say I am accusing Muslims of being different. Well, actually, that’s true. The point is Muslims are different. And in many ways I think that’s admirable.”

Muslims were a multiracial group “united by a faith and a belief” and as such could not be treated as a race, he told Today. He rejected the contention that his comments amounted to sweeping generalisations about a disparate population of approximately 3 million Britons.

It was correct for Muslims to be judged collectively, he argued. “You keep saying that I make these generalisations,” he said. “But the truth is, if you do belong to a group, whether it is a church, or a football club, you identify with a particular set of values, and you stand for it. And frankly you are judged by that.”

The Labour backbencher Khalid Mahmood said the allegations against Phillips were “so outlandish as to bring disrepute on all involved in making them”.

But Naz Shah MP, the shadow minister for women and equalities and vice chair of the all-party parliamentary group on British Muslims, said Phillips’ remarks and the subsequent defence of him by some of her colleagues had made her extremely angry.

She said those who claimed his suspension was malicious should think carefully about whether they were contributing to real fears felt by Muslims in Britain.

“Some of the things he has said on public record would not be acceptable to any minority community,” she said.

Referring to his 2016 comment that the centre of gravity of British Muslim opinion was “some distance away from the centre of gravity of everybody else’s”, Shah said: “What if we said that about women or another minority community? What does he mean by that?

“I’m confident the Labour party will deal with this complaint robustly as it should with any complaint.”

Miqdaad Versi, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), said he found Phillips’ comments on Muslims “seriously problematic”.

Versi told Today his organisation had not made a complaint to Labour, but added: “What we can say very clearly is that the statements he has made on a number of different things would not be statements that he would make against other communities.”

Phillips, who chaired the EHRC when it launched in 2006, was among 24 public figures who wrote to the Guardian last year to declare their refusal to vote for Labour because of its association with antisemitism.

Last week, a dossier of more than 300 allegations of Islamophobia in the Conservative party was submitted to the EHRC by the MCB, increasing pressure on the watchdog to launch a formal investigation.

A Labour spokesperson said: “The party takes all complaints about Islamophobia extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”