Trevor Phillips suspended by Labour over Islamophobic remarks

LONDON: United Kingdom’s main opposition party suspended its member Trevor Phillips, the former chairman of Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, after Islamophobia allegations surfaced against him.

Phillips is being investigated over his past comments, including baseless remarks on Pakistani Muslim men sexually abusing children in northern British towns.

Labour's general secretary Jennie Formby suspended him as a matter of urgency to "protect the party's reputation".

Phillips was among 24 public figures who last year declared their refusal to vote for the Labour Party because of its alleged association with anti-Semitism.

In a letter to the Guardian in November, the group said the path to a more tolerant society "must encompass Britain's Jews with unwavering solidarity" and said Jeremy Corbyn has "a long record of embracing anti-semites as comrades".

Phillips told media there was no suggestion that he had done anything unlawful and "no one inside or outside the Labour Party has ever suggested that he had broken any rules".

"If this is how Labour treats its own family, how might it treat its real opponents if it ever gains power again?” questioned Phillips

Phillips, while speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, said he was surprised and dismayed at the move, and defended his comments regarding British Muslims.

“I’m kind of surprised that what is and always has been an open and democratic party decides that its members cannot have a healthy debate about how we address differences of values and outlook,” said Phillips.

“They say I am accusing Muslims of being different. Well actually, that’s true. The point is Muslims are different. And in many ways I think that’s admirable,” said the Labour member.

Phillips also rejected the claim that his 2016 comments in which he had said that the UK’s Muslims were “becoming a nation within a nation” amounted to sweeping generalisations.

“There’s all sorts of differences in our society, and the central point of my pamphlet was to say we cannot continue simply to say that differences won’t matter,” he said. “In my view it’s a form of disrespect to say to people, ‘Oh, don’t worry, the differences of values that they have, the beliefs that this or that group have, they’ll get over it.’”

Phillips also rejected the said that he was not aware of that his “nation within a nation” phrase had been adopted by the far-right anti-Muslim campaigner Tommy Robinson.

“As my grandmother says, just because the devil picks up a tune doesn’t mean it is a bad tune,” remarked Phillips. 

He added that he believes it was right to judge Muslims collectively. “You keep saying that I make these generalisations. But the truth is, if you do belong to a group, whether it is a church, or a football club, you identify with a particular set of values, and you stand for it. And frankly you are judged by that.”

A Labour Party spokeswoman when approached regarding the investigation said that the Labour Party takes all complaints about Islamophobia “extremely seriously”.