Shabana Mahmood declines to say whether she thinks UK is Islamophobic
Shabana Mahmood has declined to say whether she thinks the UK is Islamophobic.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Labour Party conference, the Home Secretary said that engaging with "fellow citizens usually gives me a lot more hope than it gives me anything else".
Ms Mahmood spoke about the UK’s understanding of Islam and whether she thinks the country is Islamophobic.
She told the conference in Liverpool: "The debate about Islam and Britain and Muslims in Britain has been very, very much couched in the national security, terrorism, extremism space…
She added: "People think they’re engaging with what your beliefs are, but they’ve taken a verse out of context and read in the most literal way by wrong-un extremists who want to do bad things.”
"Ordinary people go about making a normal conversation, what politicians call authentic, they have to put a technical term to normality, but normality actually gives me a lot of inspiration and hope for the future.
"The normal process of engaging with fellow citizens usually gives me a lot more hope than it gives me anything else."
Ms Mahmood admitted that "mistakes were made" by Sir Keir Starmer.
She argued the former Prime Minister's downfall stemmed from his inability to relay to the public "where he went wrong".
Ms Mahmood said: "We’d just won an election and everybody was talking about freebies and gifts and Taylor Swift tickets and haircuts and glasses and so on.
"So, I mean, just the beginning I think … didn’t go well for Keir Starmer.
"The policy choices that were made, which you know then had to be U-turned on."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- Angela Rayner's office launches Islamophobia 'cover-up' investigation after key documents deleted
- Labour accused of lobbying EHRC to force through 'unworkable' Islamophobia definition
- Muslim campaigners scramble to defend new Islamophobia definition amid 'blasphemy law' fears
Ms Mahmood added: "Mistakes were being made but I think the real issue was not being able to give a political account of what was going on.”
She said Sir Keir was unable to "provide a proper political account of what he was trying to do, where he went wrong, the lessons we learnt from it".
Ms Mahmood added: "There’s a huge amount of scrutiny and you’ve got to be able to communicate.
"You’ve got to be able to do the business of politics intensely, almost 24/7."
It comes as Labour continue to push for a new formal definition of Islamophobia.
However, critics argue the definition is overly broad and risks restricting free speech.
They say it would potentially criminalise legitimate criticism of Islamic doctrines.
Conservative MP Nick Timothy heavily criticised the framework, labelling it a "fundamental threat to freedom of expression" and raising concerns that the text seeks to draw a "definitional parity between criticism of Islam and antisemitism".
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter
