Kemi Badenoch accuses Keir Starmer of ‘sucking up’ to Muslims to see off the threat from the Green Party as the row over Islamic public prayers deepens
Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir Starmer of ‘lying’ to Muslims to prevent the Green Party losing votes as the debate over public prayer deepens.
The Prime Minister called on the Conservative leader on Wednesday to sack a senior Tory who said a mass Muslim prayer event in Trafalgar Square was an ‘act of domination and division’.
But on Thursday Ms Badenoch defended shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy and accused Sir Keir of ‘lying’ to the Muslim community following Labour’s byelection defeat in Gorton and Denton.
The Conservative leader also accused the Prime Minister of “hypocrisy” after it was revealed he had withdrawn from an event organized by the group, which had previously organized mass prayers, due to his “highly controversial” views.
Meanwhile, the angry war of words continued as Labor accused the Conservatives of ‘espousing views endorsed by Tory Robinson’ and Ms Badenoch of ‘cowardice’.
Mr Timothy sparked controversy on Monday after criticizing an iftar (the meal that breaks the Ramadan fast) prayer event in London’s Trafalgar Square, hosted by London mayor Sadiq Khan.
“Mass worship in public places is an act of domination,” Mr. Timothy said in a post on channel X.
He added: ‘If you want, perform these prayers in mosques. But they are not welcome in our public spaces and partner institutions.’
Kemi Badenoch accused the Prime Minister of ‘hypocrisy’ after it was revealed that he withdrew from an event organized by the group that had previously organized the mass prayer due to his ‘highly controversial’ views
The Prime Minister called on the Conservative leader on Wednesday to sack a senior Conservative Party leader who said a mass Muslim prayer event in Trafalgar Square was ‘an act of domination and division’.
Members of the Muslim community pray ahead of the ‘Open Iftar’ Ramadan dinner event in Trafalgar Square on Monday
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir described his comments as ‘utterly appalling’ and called on the Conservative Party leader to ‘remove himself’ as shadow justice secretary.
But the Conservative Party leader defended Mr Timothy’s comments on Thursday and said we needed to ensure religious expressions were compatible with British ‘values, norms and beliefs’.
Following his speech to launch the Conservatives’ local election campaign, he said: ‘This is a country that has always tolerated minority beliefs and allowed people, including ethnic minorities, to live freely.
‘But this debate Nick is having is not about freedom of religion. It’s about how religion is expressed in a shared public space and whether those expressions conform to the norms of British culture.’
Ms Badenoch added: ‘As a woman, particularly an ethnic minority woman who grew up in a country where Islam is very visible, I am deeply disturbed to see women being pushed to the back in an exclusionary event in the middle of Trafalgar Square.
‘This is not about preventing anyone from any religion from practicing their faith. We want to see religious festivals in Trafalgar Square, but they need to be inclusive and at the same time respectful of British culture.
‘We have to make sure that religious expression is consistent with our values, our norms, our beliefs, and sometimes that means saying ‘actually no, that’s probably too much.’
The mass prayer event on Monday was organized by the Ramadan Tent Project.
In April 2021, Sir Keir, the then leader of the opposition, withdrew from an event hosted by the group after expressing concerns about comments made by the chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. This was the period when the Labor leader sought to repair the party’s relations with the Jewish community.
Ms Badenoch said: ‘I will not be taking any lessons from Keir Starmer or the Labor Party on this because Keir pulled out of a highly controversial event organized by the same group in 2021.
‘And he did it because Labor was pandering to British Jews and the House of Representatives by pretending they had changed. Now he wants to immerse himself in a different community after Gorton and Denton. This is the mother of all hypocrisy.’
But Labor last night accused the Conservative Party leader of ‘cowardice to address anti-Muslim hostility in his party’.
Party chairman Anna Turley said: ‘Kemi Badenoch used her local election campaign to support the shadow justice secretary when she should have sacked him long ago. It’s a shame that he lacks backbone and doesn’t condemn his vile comments towards Muslims.
‘The Tories have now joined the Reformation, adopting the views endorsed by Tommy Robinson regarding Muslims praying peacefully in London. The majority of Britons, including many Conservatives, will be rightly appalled by this decision. This shows how far the Conservatives have sunk.
‘London is a tolerant and diverse city. Labor will continue to proudly defend these values across Britain.’
