Muslim Leadership Council

Miuddle East Eye reported:

The Labour Party is supporting the creation of a new Muslim leadership group intended to become the primary point of engagement between Keir Starmer’s government and Muslim communities in the UK, Middle East Eye can exclusively reveal. A draft document setting out plans for the network seen by MEE describes its core objectives as including “to influence public policy in a way that safeguards and promotes the rights of British Muslims”, and “to influence the media debate around Muslims in Britain”. “The initial focus will be creating a credible group that engages with the government of the day and over time take on a wider remit of support for Muslim representation and leadership development,” the document says.

The new network appears to pose a direct challenge to the claims to leadership of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the largest body representing Muslim organisations in the UK. “The government and policy makers are not easily able to access, connect or seek credible and expert advice from diverse British Muslim communities,” the proposal document says. “There is a dire need for a credible group which a range of institutions, both public and private, can easily access, trust and engage with.” Asked for comment, a spokesperson for the MCB urged the government not to exclude the organisation, and warned that previous attempts to “manufacture consent” in Muslim communities had been repeatedly rejected.

Key figures involved in the new group, provisionally known as the Muslim Leadership Council, are understood to include Asim Hafiz, a former British Army imam; Julie Siddiqi, the former executive director of the Islamic Society of Britain; and Dilwar Hussain, the founder of the New Horizons in British Islam think tank. Others who have been involved in discussions include Labour MP Shabana Mahmood, who was appointed last week by Starmer as lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice. Brendan Cox, the husband of Jo Cox, a Labour MP murdered by a far right-inspired gunman in 2016, is also understood to be involved through his work with a number of campaign groups focused on community cohesion and integration.

Labour has been trying to reach out to faith communities through a project called Faith in Labour which was co-created by a consultancy, the Good Faith Partnership. Myra Johnson, the Good Faith Partnership's director of communications, told MEE: "The Good Faith Partnership has had no involvement in the creation of this group." The Good Faith Partnership works closely with Baroness Sherlock, formerly Labour’s shadow faith minister, who before the election said the government would appoint a “minister for faith engagement” and would see “faith as an asset and a way to build social cohesion”. Sherlock’s parliamentary staff include Russell Rook, a founding partner of the Good Faith Partnership who is currently “seconded part-time to the Labour party as a civil society adviser”, according to the House of Lords register of interests. Ahead of last week’s general election, Sherlock met Hafiz and other Muslim leaders at Labour’s party headquarters. Posting about the meeting on social media, Sherlock wrote: “Grateful for honest conversations, their immense contribution and the prospect of working together to bring about change.” Asked about his involvement in the project, Hafiz told MEE: “I have been involved in a number of conversations with British Muslims over the past few months, all focused on how to increase our collective voice in domestic and foreign policy following years of marginalisation.

Sources familiar with the plans said the new group is also being pitched as a body that can help the government reach Muslim communities without having to talk directly to the MCB. They drew parallels with the launch in 2006 of the Sufi Muslim Council, which was also backed by the Labour government of the day but dismissed by the MCB as “a motley crew of discredited figures”. The MCB last week welcomed Labour’s general election victory as “an important moment for change”, and said it was looking forward to meeting the new government. Zara Mohammed, the MCB’s secretary general said: “With a new government, now is the time for fostering meaningful dialogue and regaining the trust of British Muslim communities.” But successive governments have mostly refused to engage with the MCB since the last Labour government initially suspended ties in 2009 after the organisation's then-deputy secretary general signed a declaration in support of Palestinians’ right of resistance following Israel's three-week war in Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead, between December 2008 and January 2009. Labour restored ties before its defeat in the 2010 general election, and MCB officials held a number of meetings with Liberal Democrat ministers during the Conservative-led coalition government that followed until 2015. But Conservative Party ministers refused to meet MCB officials between 2010 and 2024.