Daily Mail causes more hatred by calling for the exclusion of British Muslim Representation

18th July 2022

The Daily Mail has sought to attack Conservative Party leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt for meeting Zara Mohammed, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain in 2021. This uncontroversial meeting took place last year following the election of the first woman as head of the country’s largest Muslim umbrella body. Yet the Daily Mail engaged in its own ‘cancel culture’ by citing unnamed sources who say that the government ‘boycotted’ engagement with the Muslim Council of Britain. The newspaper has a long history of peddling negative tropes against Muslims.

Zara Mohammed, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain said:

“I think it’s good to talk. During my tenure, I’ve had the pleasure of engaging with politicians from across the spectrum, including various Tory MPs and Peers. By talking to each other we can come together for the common good, as we did during the pandemic. 

During this testing time, we worked tirelessly with everyone to keep fellow Britons safe. Yet, the party of government continued on its self-imposed and opaque policy of non-engagement.

Even though various members of the government have talked to members of the MCB over the years, the Daily Mail is referring to this ‘boycott’ that has been relentlessly pursued by unnamed figures at the heart of government. They are suggesting that I be ‘boycotted’ and be held responsible for things that occurred when I was a teenager and bear no relevance to British Muslim communities today.

Sadly, this is part of the ongoing delegitimisation of Muslims in the public space, and of Muslim women who overcome so much to have their voices heard.

Muslims in the Conservative party have long faced Islamophobia. And key figures are advocating discrimination of a faith community by doubling down on non-engagement with the MCB.

It is sad to see how this Islamophobia is now weaponised in the Conservative Party leadership contest by unnamed sources and their friends in the British print media. They put their narrow divisive agenda ahead of national interests or the common good.

I remain hopeful however. I was pleased to see diversity reflected among the Tory leadership contenders. Yet you cannot be a party of government for all Britons by engaging in the politics of exclusion, in this case by ‘boycotting’ some British Muslims based on narrow ideology rather than the common good.”

ENDS

Notes to editors: 

1. See Zara Mohammed’s Twitter thread on this issue here. 
2. Zara Mohammed’s meeting with Penny Mordaunt was known of last year – see here.
3. The Daily Mail pushes the narrative that relations between the MCB and the government  irrecoverably ceased in 2009. This is not true, they were restored a few months later – see here. Further information here.
4. Our politics should be free of bigotry. The Muslim Council of Britain has exposed consistent and pervasive incidents of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party. Very little has been done to tackle this issue, see here.
5. The Muslim Council of Britain is the UK’s largest Muslim umbrella body with over 500 affiliated national, regional and local organisations, mosques, charities and professional networks.
6. For any media enquiries, contact: [email protected]