The problem with ‘Islamophobia’ and the Tory party

On Sunday, Policy Exchange held three events at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester – one on the Irish backstop with Arlene Foster, Leader of the DUP; one with Michael Gove talking to Iain Martin on how to deliver Brexit; and one on the subject of Islamophobia. There were some fascinating moments throughout the afternoon. But the most memorable speech of the day was at the session on Islamophobia – an event which is now being horribly misrepresented on Twitter, including by the NUS president, Zamzam Ibrahim, who claims that it denied ‘the existence of anti-Muslim bigotry’. She could not be more wrong.

The event was chaired by Trevor Phillips, Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange and former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and featured on the panel: Peter Tatchell, the LGBT rights campaigner, Dr Qanta Ahmed, a British-American doctor and anti-extremism campaigner, and Nusrat Ghani, the Tory MP and Transport minister.