The Conservative Party reacted to unsubstantiated allegations against Muslim charities by removing their right to speak at conference. David Ainsworth says this is unacceptable behaviour from the country’s ruling party.
On Saturday, the Conservative Party was contacted by a Daily Telegraph journalist, Andrew Gilligan. He alleged that individuals cleared to speak at the Tory conference were linked to terrorism - allegations later repeated in this article.
The Tories immediately reacted and pulled the event. The individuals involved didn’t get told, let alone given an opportunity to tell their side of the story. They found out when they read it in the paper.
Ironically, the event was about tolerance between Muslims and other communities. It was called ‘Faith and British Values: The Muslim Charities Question’. The Muslim charities involved – Human Appeal International and the Muslim Charities Forum – are advocates for moderation, and have been closely involved in work with the Charity Commission.
Another organiser was Acevo, the charity chief executives’ infrastructure body, and we can be reasonably sure it isn’t promoting terrorism.
Speakers at the event included those well-known extremists William Hague, the former leader of the party, and Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary.
So were the Tories right to pull the event?
Well, no.
The Telegraph allegations look ropy, to say the least. They are substantially similar to those in a Jewish Chronicle article in 2012. That article was the subject of successful legal action and you can still read the apology. The Telegraph is also likely to get sued.
So the Tories’ decision appears to be based on nothing more than hearsay. Their responsibility as a political party is to represent all citizens of this country, regardless of religious persuasion, not to sideline some of them in a kneejerk fashion at the first hint of wrongdoing.
The speakers had been security-checked by the police and no issues had been found. They had already delivered the same event at the Labour Party conference without any difficulty. The Tories have still allowed them into the conference, in fact, despite their concerns, which suggests they were rather more worried about PR than security.
At first glance, this looks like little more than casual prejudice akin to racism. It looks as if The Telegraph fired off some accusations, and the Tories reacted as if they’d been stung and immediately cancelled.
It seems highly questionable whether they would have done the same if the individuals involved had been Christians. Or of any other religion. Or atheists, for that matter.
Given the problems that this country has with disenfranchisement among its Muslim citizens, and given how powerful Muslim charities can be in helping stem that tide, it might seem sensible to get involved in a dialogue with them. It might be sensible to be seen to be giving them the time of day.
The Tories have instead reinforced the idea that they are prejudiced and partial, and that Muslims will not get a fair hearing. It’s the kind of behaviour towards legitimate charities which none of us should tolerate without speaking out.
