KHADIJA KHAN: Labour’s performative outrage over this Trafalgar Square mass prayer row sickens me – it reeks of naked opportunism

In modern Britain, there seem to be some issues that cannot be discussed – at least honestly – without sparking a storm of anger.

The latest victim of this reflexive rage is Shadow Lord Chancellor Nick Timothy.

His so-called crime? In a brief post about X, he argued: ‘Collective worship in public places is an act of domination.’ He added: ‘If you want, perform these prayers in mosques.

‘But they are not welcome in our public spaces and partner institutions.’

The ritual Timothy was referring to was an event in London’s Trafalgar Square, where around 3,000 Muslims gathered for a mass prayer event to mark the end of Ramadan on Monday. This event, organized by a charity called the Ramadan Tent Project, was a highly visible event in the heart of the nation’s capital, and Timothy had every right to question.

He did not specifically comment on Muslims being human beings. He did not question worship rights or call for restrictions on private beliefs.

What it did do was raise a question about the appropriateness of large-scale religious rituals in shared civic spaces. However, within hours, outrage began, led by Sir Keir Starmer, who described Timothy’s remarks as ‘utterly appalling’ and demanded Kemi Badenoch sack him. Disgracefully, the Prime Minister claimed the Conservative Party had a ‘problem with Muslims’.

Labor leader Anna Turley struck an equally provocative tone, describing Timothy’s comments as ‘despicable’, while London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, who presided over and attended the mass prayer, declared himself ‘heartbroken’ and said British Muslims were ‘frightened’ and ‘departed’. What exactly were you chosen for?

Nearly 3,000 Muslims gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square for a mass prayer event to mark the end of Ramadan on Monday

Today, there is no Muslim in England who is prevented from practicing his religion, going to the mosque, or living his daily life. This is what should happen in a free society.

But those who are quick to shout ‘Islamophobia’, like Starmer, seem curiously uninterested in the nature of the incident.

Commentators pointed out that women were being pushed to the back rows, literally behind men.

These are not extreme applications; It is entirely consistent with what I witnessed growing up in a Muslim household in Pakistan, where it was made abundantly clear that women were not equal to men. What is truly remarkable is not that such practices exist; On the contrary, many Western feminists, who are so eager to condemn sexism and misogyny, fall into a deafening silence when confronted with them in this context.

Their silence is not accidental. This is part of a broader reluctance to engage honestly with difficult questions about religion, culture and integration – questions that are dismissed as bigotry as soon as they are raised, even if they seem to concern only Islam. This episode did not emerge on its own. This is part of a trend clearly visible to many ordinary Britons, even if politicians refuse to acknowledge it.

It’s a phenomenon that began with the gang grooming scandal, where authorities often failed to act against Muslim perpetrators for fear of being accused of racism. The incident led to a horrified Religious Studies teacher in Batley, Yorkshire being forced into hiding after showing students a caricature of Muhammad, where he remains to this day.

Last year authorities were seen allowing an ‘inclusive’ charity campaign organized by Muslims to run in a London park, despite excluding women and girls over the age of 13.

One only has to imagine the reaction when visible gender discrimination was practiced at a Christian event held in a major public square. We have seen this in other contexts: last year, a Christian minister was arrested in Bristol for preaching on gender and religion; Although this speech was controversial, it did not violate the law. Some were arrested for praying silently near abortion clinics.

But earlier this month the Government announced it would provide special legal protections for so-called ‘anti-Muslim hostility’ – a concept so vaguely defined that it risks becoming blasphemy legislation through the back door – and that a new Islamophobia tsar would be appointed.

The message seems clear: in modern Britain, some beliefs must be scrutinized ruthlessly, while others must be excluded from criticism. What is this if not the creeping sectarianism of public life, as Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was bold enough to point out earlier this year?

Nick Timothy merely raised a question about the appropriateness of large-scale religious rituals in shared civic spaces but faced calls from Kemi Badenoch to sack him.

We have been told repeatedly that these concerns are exaggerated. To dare to voice these is to fuel division. However, the opposite is true. It is the refusal to address them that fuels resentment and distrust. As a former Muslim, I feel the need to point out something else that is conveniently overlooked: Islam does not require mass prayers in public squares. Men are ordered to pray in mosques and women, of course, to pray at home. What we saw in Trafalgar Square was not a religious requirement but a deliberate public demonstration. The distinction is important.

A coordinated mass assembly in a symbolic national space is inherently a statement, and asking what that statement is meant to say is certainly not beyond the bounds of acceptable discourse.

That’s why this performative anger on the part of Labor apparatchiks bothers me, not least because it smacks of naked opportunism. Labor has recently suffered a sharp decline in support from Muslim voters and is losing ground in areas where it once enjoyed unquestioning loyalty, as ‘independent’ pro-Gaza MPs challenge their former sectarian strongholds, with the Green Party candidate campaigning in Urdu in last month’s by-elections in Gorton and Denton.

You don’t have to have a particularly cynical mind to wonder whether the party’s opportunistic calls this week to demilitarize Timothy have anything to do with efforts to win back that support.

The hypocrisy is also surprising. Five years ago, then opposition leader Keir Starmer withdrew from an event hosted by the Ramadan Tent Project after learning of the project’s founder and chief executive Omar Salha’s links to a controversial advocacy group called CAGE.

At that point he was trying to influence the Jewish vote. But fast forward five years and his concerns appear to have shifted, directly linked to the decline in Muslim votes for his party.

The deplorable attempt to remove Nick Timothy from his position has nothing to do with defending communities. This is pure politics and everyone who participates in it should feel nothing but shame.

n Khadija Khan is the politics and culture editor of A Next Inquiry magazine and also co-host of the A Next Inquiry Podcast.