New Labour Finally Removes Its Gloves, If Not Yet Their Veils

Civitas, 12 October 2006

Well, I never. What’s going on?– to borrow the title of Marvin Gaye’s illustrious soul ballad.
You wait forever for a New Labour minister to say something moderately critical about the intransigence of some British Muslims, and then, blow me, in the space of a week no fewer than three of them show up doing so.
The first was Jack Straw who last week-end publicly expressed his preference for Muslim women in Britain not to wear the niqab, especially when visiting his parliamentary surgery. The niqab is that particular form of veil favoured by some Muslim women which conceals all but the eyes of its wearer. Straw said he preferred they didn’t because he claimed their doing so placed a barrier between them and whichever non-Muslims wth whom they happened to be having dealings at the time that prevented communication and so was not conducive to social harmony and cohesion.
The response of some British Muslims to Straw’s remarks has been predictably negative: ‘The Muslim community feels angry and let down’ one Labour-party Muslim activist in Straw’s Blackburn constituency is reported to have said. ‘We want him to apologise and will keep on protesting until he does. I feel outraged and want him out of his job. The majority of Muslim women want him out’ another Muslim woman reportedly said at a protest held in Blackburn against Straw.
Judged by the tone of these comments you would have thought Straw had asked Muslim women to disrobe completely before entering his surgery.

Then, yesterday no fewer than two other Labour ministers entered the fray. The first was Higher Education Minister Bill Bramell who publicly expressed agreement with Straw on this matter, particularly in the case of Muslim female students while receiving tuition in British universities. He said that he supported the decision of London’s Imperial College to ban from its premises any student wearing a garment that concealed their face.
The second minister to say something critical about some of Britain’s more extreme Muslims was Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly. Yesterday, she announced that, in future, the government will withhold grants from every British Muslim organisations that failed to take a lead against extremism. The Muslim organisation she probably had in mind was hitherto the main source from which the government was wont to take advice about Islamic issues. This is the Muslim Council of Britain which has consistently refused to take part in any public ceremonies on Holocaust Memorial Day to mark the tragic events which that day is designed to commemorate.
It was cheering to read today that the critical comments of these government ministers’ about the divisive practices of some British Muslims have received the imprimatur of no less a champion of race relations and social cohesion than the chair of the Commission for Racial Equality Trevor Phillips. He is reported to have said Jack Straw was unequivocally right to have raised the issue.
However, for the time being at least here, the last word on the subject must go to someone going by the name of Crabtree who posted the following comment on the Little Green Website about Imperial College’s decision to ban anyone from its premises anyone wearing the niqab. He or she wrote:
‘If they’re so religious that they have to walk around in a sack, how come they get to go to a co-ed university where they wander around unescorted by a male relative, and mingle in the same rooms and same spaces as unrelated male infidels? They can’t pray with men but they can study math with them?
‘It has nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with seeing how far they can push their agenda and how much power they can grab. The answer should be . . . not far and none.’
Though somewhat harshly put, the sentiment expressed by this comment seems fair to me and to express what surely must be the real concern that underlies Straw’s remarks.
Has the fight-back begun at last, one wonders? Or will New Labour have done a U-turn by this time next week?
Watch this space for an answer.