This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/09/labour-suspends-former-head-of-ehrc-over-alleged-islamophobia

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Labour suspends former head of EHRC over alleged Islamophobia Trevor Phillips dismayed at Labour suspension over Muslim comments
(about 8 hours later)
Trevor Phillips investigated over past comments on Pakistani Muslims Former head of EHRC defends view that UK Muslim population is ‘different’
The former head of the UK’s equalities watchdog has been suspended by the Labour party over allegations of Islamophobia. Trevor Phillips, the former head of the equalities watchdog, has condemned Labour’s decision to suspend him from the party over alleged Islamophobia, while defending his view that the UK Muslim population is “different”.
It is understood that Trevor Phillips, the anti-racism campaigner who previously chaired the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), has been administratively suspended pending an investigation and could be expelled from the party. Phillips, a pioneering anti-racism campaigner who previously chaired the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), has been suspended from Labour pending an investigation and could be expelled from the party.
According to the Times, the 66-year-old former broadcaster and politician is being investigated over past comments including remarks on Pakistani Muslim men sexually abusing children in northern British towns. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Phillips said he was surprised and dismayed at 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,” Phillips 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.”
Challenged on whether comments such as his claim in 2016 that the UK’s Muslims were “becoming a nation within a nation” amounted to sweeping generalisations about a disparate population of around 3 million Britons, Phillips rejected this.
“There’s all sorts of differences in our society, and the central point of my pamphlet was to say we cannot continue simply to say that differences won’t matter,” he said. “In my view it’s a form of disrespect to say to people: ‘Oh, don’t worry, the differences of values that they have, the beliefs that this or that group have, they’ll get over it.’”
Asked about his “nation within a nation” phrase being adopted by the far-right anti-Muslim campaigner Tommy Robinson, Phillips said he had not heard about this, adding: “As my grandmother says, just because the devil picks up a tune doesn’t mean it is a bad tune.”
It was correct for Muslims to be judged collectively, he argued. “You keep saying that I make these generalisations. 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.”
News of Phillips’s suspension emerged in the Times, which said the 66-year-old former broadcaster and politician was being investigated over past comments including about Pakistani Muslim men sexually abusing children in northern British towns.
It said the complaint also covered comments by Phillips about the failure of some Muslims to wear poppies for Remembrance Sunday and the sympathy shown by some in an opinion poll towards the motives of the Charlie Hebdo attackers.It said the complaint also covered comments by Phillips about the failure of some Muslims to wear poppies for Remembrance Sunday and the sympathy shown by some in an opinion poll towards the motives of the Charlie Hebdo attackers.
The paper said many of his statements dated back years, but that Labour’s general secretary, Jennie Formby, had suspended him as a matter of urgency to “protect the party’s reputation”. The paper said many of his statements dated back years, but Labour’s general secretary, Jennie Formby, had suspended him as a matter of urgency to “protect the party’s reputation”.
Phillips has been a vocal opponent of moves to extend a definition of Islamophobia drawn up by an all-party parliamentary group, as now used by Labour among others. Muslims were a multiracial group “united by a faith and a belief” and could not thus be treated as a race, he told Today.
Phillips, who chaired the EHRC when it launched in 2006, was among 24 public figures who last year wrote to the Guardian declaring their refusal to vote for the Labour party because of its association with antisemitism.Phillips, who chaired the EHRC when it launched in 2006, was among 24 public figures who last year wrote to the Guardian declaring their refusal to vote for the Labour party because of its association with antisemitism.
The group said the path to a more tolerant society “must encompass Britain’s Jews with unwavering solidarity” and said Jeremy Corbyn has “a long record of embracing antisemites as comrades”. The group said the path to a more tolerant society “must encompass Britain’s Jews with unwavering solidarity” and said Jeremy Corbyn had “a long record of embracing antisemites as comrades”. The EHRC is the organisation now investigating the Labour party over alleged antisemitism.
The EHRC is the organisation now investigating the Labour party over alleged antisemitism. Phillips has made two Channel 4 documentaries dealing with race and discrimination – 2015’s Things We Won’t Say About Race That Are True and What British Muslims Really Think, which aired the following year. He now chairs Index on Censorship, a not-for-profit group that campaigns for and defends free speech.
Phillips has made two Channel 4 documentaries dealing with race and discrimination - 2015’s Things We Won’t Say About Race That Are True and What British Muslims Really Think, which aired the following year.
He now chairs Index on Censorship, a not-for-profit group that campaigns for and defends free speech.
Phillips told the Times there was no suggestion that he had done anything unlawful and “no one inside or outside the Labour party has ever suggested that I have broken any rules”.
A Labour party spokesperson said: “The Labour 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.”A Labour party spokesperson said: “The Labour 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.”