UK’s Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is advancing plans to establish a government-backed council focused on “Islamophobia,” with former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve being considered to lead the initiative, The Telegraph has learned. The 16-member body will be responsible for advising ministers on how to define and address anti-Muslim discrimination, but the plans have free speech supporters concerned overbroad definitions.
Sources indicate that Grieve, known for his stance against Brexit and past work on interfaith issues, has been “recommended” as the council’s chair within Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). He previously led the Citizens’ UK Commission on Islam, which aimed to improve dialogue between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. In 2018, he wrote the foreword to a controversial all-party parliamentary group (APPG) report that proposed a definition of Islamophobia, later adopted by the Labour Party.
That definition has drawn sharp criticism for being too broad, with opponents warning it could stifle free speech and serve as an indirect blasphemy law, preventing legitimate debate about Islam.
One of the candidates shortlisted for the council is Qari Asim, a Leeds-based imam who was dismissed from a government advisory role in 2022 after supporting calls to ban The Lady of Heaven, a film about the Prophet Mohammed’s daughter.
Ministers have yet to decide whether to accept the APPG’s definition of Islamophobia or pursue an alternative. Free speech advocates have urged the government to abandon the initiative altogether, warning of the implications for open discussion.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has strongly opposed the proposed definition, stating: “The Government should drop its plans for such a deeply flawed definition of Islamophobia. Of course, we should tackle anti-Muslim hate wherever it occurs, but this definition is a Trojan horse for a blasphemy law protecting Islam.
“Why do Labour MPs think it is acceptable to mock Christianity but not Islam? Time and again this Labour Government displays an Orwellian disregard for freedom of speech.”
The APPG, which was co-chaired by current Health Secretary Wes Streeting, spent 18 months developing its definition, which describes Islamophobia as “rooted in racism and a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”
Grieve, in his foreword to the report, welcomed its findings, stating that it “makes an important contribution to the debate as to how Islamophobia can best be addressed. It is well researched and can give all of us food both for thought and positive action.”
