The three figures vying for the leadership of the Labour Party stood shamefully silent last night after the suspension of Trevor Phillips over claims of Islamophobia.
Anti-racism veteran Mr Phillips yesterday vowed to ‘not go without a fight’ after he was warned he faced expulsion from Labour.
Yesterday senior party figures, including former home secretaries David Blunkett and Charles Clarke, branded the claims ‘outlandish’ and backed Mr Phillips.
The former head of the country’s equalities watchdog Trevor Phillips, above, is being investigated over a series of public statements dating back as far as four years. The leadership candidates faced criticism over their refusal to comment
But the candidates for Labour leader – Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy – all refused to comment.
Mr Phillips yesterday accused the party of attempting to gag him after it sent him an 11-page letter telling him he was forbidden from publishing the details of his suspension.
The former head of the country’s equalities watchdog is being investigated over a series of public statements dating back as far as four years.
These include expressing concerns about Pakistani Muslim men sexually abusing children in towns such as Rotherham and criticising Muslims who do not wear poppies on Remembrance Sunday.
The candidates for Labour leader – Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy – all refused to comment. They are pictured above at a hustings last week
Khalid Mahmood, the longest-serving Muslim MP, yesterday criticised Mr Phillips’ suspension as a ‘sad and frankly embarrassing episode’ for the party.
In an article for the Policy Exchange think-tank, the former minister wrote that the charges against Mr Phillips ‘are so outlandish as to bring disrepute on all involved in making them; and I fear they further add to the sense that we, as a party, have badly lost our way’.
Lord Blunkett said: ‘I appointed him (Mr Phillips) as chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, which was the forerunner of the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission), which he also chaired. I would not have appointed him if I believed for a moment that he was Islamophobic or racist in any way.
‘There has to be room for genuine and robust dialogue and controversy, which is neither offensive nor racist. That is part of a free democratic society.’
Khalid Mahmood, the longest-serving Muslim MP, yesterday criticised Mr Phillips’ suspension as a ‘sad and frankly embarrassing episode’ for the party
Mr Clarke said the suspension was ‘utterly ludicrous’ and insisted he should ‘absolutely’ be allowed to remain a member of the party.
Former Cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw criticised the ‘swift action’ against Mr Phillips, which, he said, came ‘in stark contrast to the complete lack of action against anti-Semites I and many other Labour MPs have reported repeatedly to [Labour general secretary] Jennie Formby and who remain Labour members’.
Steve McCabe, Labour MP for Selly Oak, added: ‘Officials, sitting on huge backlog of anti-Semitism cases, find time to suspend Trevor Phillips. Man who gave us term Islamophobia, accused of being Islamophobe.’
The leadership candidates faced criticism over their refusal to comment.
Sir Keir, the frontrunner, was silent even though Mr Phillips is a member of his constituency party in Holborn and St Pancras.
When contacted, Mrs LongBailey and Miss Nandy would not comment.
Lord Mann, the crossbench peer and former Labour MP, demanded: ‘Let’s hear from all the Labour leadership candidates on their view on a Trevor Phillips suspension.’ He denounced the suspension of Mr Phillips as ‘Orwellian’.
In an article for Policy Exchange, Mr Phillips criticised how ‘the charges have been drawn up in secret’.
He wrote: ‘I am not even allowed to speak about the allegations to anyone, in public or private, even a spiritual adviser, be that a rabbi, imam or priest’.
However, Conservative peer Baroness Warsi wrote in the Guardian: ‘Phillips cannot treat Muslims as a homogeneous group when it suits him, then later deny they are racialised. Whatever the outcome of Labour’s inquiry into his Islamophobia, there’s no denying he has a case to answer.’
Mr Phillips, 66, suggested the action could be seen as ‘payback’ for his criticism of the leadership’s failure to tackle anti-Semitism or an attempt to intimidate the EHRC, which is conducting an inquiry into the party’s handling of the crisis.
He added: ‘It would be a tragedy if, at the very moment we most need a robust and effective opposition, our nation had to endure the spectacle of a great party collapsing into a brutish, authoritarian cult. That is why I will not go without a fight.’
Later, on Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Phillips said: ‘I’m surprised about what is and always has been an open and democratic party deciding that its members cannot have healthy debate about how we address differences of values and outlooks.’
![Former Cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw criticised the ‘swift action’ against Mr Phillips, which, he said, came ‘in stark contrast to the complete lack of action against anti-Semites I and many other Labour MPs have reported repeatedly to [Labour general secretary] Jennie Formby and who remain Labour members’](https://i0.wp.com/i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/03/09/22/25757308-8093529-Former_Cabinet_minister_Ben_Bradshaw_criticised_the_swift_action-m-23_1583792702478.jpg?resize=634%2C513&ssl=1)
Former Cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw criticised the ‘swift action’ against Mr Phillips, which, he said, came ‘in stark contrast to the complete lack of action against anti-Semites I and many other Labour MPs have reported repeatedly to [Labour general secretary] Jennie Formby and who remain Labour members’