Amid the many challenges facing Britain, I believe that one urgent threat to our freedoms demands immediate attention: the government’s “Grieve-Raynor” committee to define and criminalise “Islamophobia.” If allowed to proceed, this initiative will sharply curtail freedom of speech and entrench an Islamist influence in our society that is already dangerously pervasive.
Why Fear of Islam is Rational
The term “Islamophobia” is often described as an irrational fear of Islam. Yet recent events make this fear entirely rational and reasonable.
In April, 26 tourists in Pahalgam, Kashmir, were brutally murdered by gunmen who separated victims based on religious identity. Those who claimed to be Muslim had to pass a religious test — reciting the Kalma and showing circumcision — while non-Muslims, mostly Hindu Indians, and those who failed the tests, were executed on the spot. This horrifying massacre was justified by the perpetrators in the name of their interpretation of Islamic doctrine.
Similar atrocities have occurred globally, including attacks within the UK itself, often perpetrated by Islamist extremists. Against this backdrop, fear of Islam, or at least a critical scrutiny of its political and militant strands, is not “phobia” but a protective, rational response to real threats.
Yet the UK government, under Sir Keir Starmer, is intent on criminalising this rational concern through the establishment of a committee chaired by Angela Raynor and Dominic Grieve. Their task: to legally define “Islamophobia,” effectively outlawing criticism of Islam. Such a law would suffocate free debate, a fundamental British liberty, and pave the way for a society where speaking out risks prison.
It’s important to remember that some parts of Islamic doctrine, especially the rules of Islamic Sharia law, strongly clash with the basic values of Western civilization. To name a few:
- Women are treated as subordinate, and their testimony is considered worth only half that of a man.
- Religious freedom is denied, with the death penalty applied to Muslims who leave Islam and to anyone thought to have insulted it.
- Punishments like amputations, beheadings, and stoning to death are used as part of Sharia law.
These rules sharply contradict Western values and fundamental human rights. In many Muslim-majority countries, Sharia law is enforced as the official state law for all residents.
Islam’s Grip on Britain
It is chilling how deeply Muslim influence has penetrated key British institutions.
At the national level, the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Ms Shabana Mahmood, is a practising Muslim who took her oath of office on the Koran. In her inauguration speech, she pledged to fight for “justice” "as a Muslim". This raises an unavoidable conflict of interest in her position: will her allegiance be to British legal traditions based on Magna Carta and centuries of common law, or to Sharia principles? This question remains unaddressed.
Mahmood is now pushing reforms to weaken trial by jury — a historic British safeguard — replacing citizen magistrates and jurors with professional, paid judges. This shift endangers impartiality and increases the risk of political influence on verdicts, especially under a government promoting draconian “Islamophobia” laws. The consequences for free speech and dissent could be dire.
Similarly, the Chairman of Ofsted, the school standards watchdog, is a Muslim Mufti, effectively a religious leader. His role overseeing UK education means Islam has a powerful influence on the teaching children receive, shaping young minds and potentially making them more receptive to Islamic doctrines at an impressionable age.
At the highest levels, King Charles III has publicly expressed admiration for Islam, hosting Ramadan iftars and engaging warmly with the Muslim community. While he denies conversion, his actions symbolize the establishment’s increasing accommodation of Islamic interests.
The Labour Party, led by Starmer, depends heavily on the Muslim vote — a bloc estimated at around 4 million strong. To secure this support, Labour has bent over backwards, appointing key Muslims to powerful positions and pushing laws to protect Islam from criticism.
In a pre-election video, Starmer and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, a three-term Muslim mayor, discussed harsher laws to criminalise “Islamophobia” beyond current hate crime legislation. The committee to define “Islamophobia” under Raynor and Grieve represents a renewed attempt to reintroduce blasphemy laws, protecting Islam uniquely and suppressing legitimate discourse.
Labour’s Working Class Betrayal
The Labour Party’s roots lie in the fight for the British working class, championed by its first MP, Keir Hardie, over a century ago. Today, under a different leader sharing the same first name, Keir Starmer, the party prioritises advancing Muslim interests, often at the expense of its traditional base.
Most glaringly, Starmer’s Labour has been accused of covering up the rampant child-rape gangs predominantly composed of Pakistani Muslim men targeting vulnerable young working-class girls, some as young as 11, in more than 50 cities nationwide. This is a betrayal of the very people Labour once vowed to protect — the native working-class communities.
One can only imagine how the original Keir Hardie would react, seeing his namesake not as a defender of British workers, but as a facilitator of Islamist interests and a suppressor of free speech.
The Betrayal of British Values
The “Grieve-Raynor” committee and the Starmer government’s approach to Islam pose a clear and present danger to British freedoms. Rational concern over violent Islamist acts is being rebranded as criminal “Islamophobia.” Key institutions are increasingly influenced by Islamist actors, while political pandering to the Muslim vote overrides traditional British values.
If unchecked, this creeping Islamisation risks transforming Britain into a society where freedom of speech is muzzled, justice is compromised, and political dissent punished - echoing Orwellian nightmares.
The government must dissolve the committee and restore free debate, ensuring Britain remains a nation founded on the principles of Freedom and Fairness, as developed and defended over centuries.
(For further context, see Part 2, a related article by William Dick, available here)
William Dick
William Dick | Political and Legal Journalist
