The mainstreaming of Islamophobia in the UK

Today, claims of “No-Go Zones” and manufactured issues are regularly repeated on Talk TV and GB News — two platforms that garner millions of monthly views. And the Centre for Media Monitoring has documented the pervasiveness of the issue, highlighting how such right-wing outlets have published a steady stream of demonizing content blaming Muslims for the recent violent unrest. This, despite the fact that it’s been Muslims, their places of worship, their homes and their business that are targeted.

While white nationalist mobs descended on Muslim communities this week, these media networks became their megaphones, with broadcasters amplifying bigotry. Some claimed Muslims should expect this behavior, while others promoted dangerous conspiracy theories about an “Islamification” of society. In doing so, these networks were normalizing views that portray immigrants of color as a threat to British society and British Muslims as a “suspect community” blamed for society’s ills.

When it comes to British politicians, unfortunately, not much is different. For years, rhetoric across the political spectrum has been laced with anti-Muslim tropes.

This past week’s anti-Muslim mobs chanted slogans that were used by mainstream politicians in parliament. “Stop the boats” was the immigration policy of previous Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. His Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who spearheaded an illegal migration bill, had argued that illegal immigrants “possess values which are at odds with our country,” and attempted to tie “people coming on boats” to “drug-dealing, exploitation, and prostitution.” In 2022, then-Conservative Home Secretary Priti Patel put asylum seekers in the same category as rapists. And it was her prime minister, Boris Johnson, who in 2018 likened Muslim women who wore the niqab to “letterboxes” and “bank robbers.” He took office the following year.

But it’s not just occasional anti-Muslim statements — Islamophobia is widespread in British politics. Social media accounts of some Conservative party members are indistinguishable from far-right profiles, with one party member writing they would like to “turf all Muslims out of public office,” and another expressing a desire to “get rid of all mosques.”

Others have referred to Muslims as “cavemen,” claimed “most” are sex offenders, and just this past week, Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick argued that individuals shouting “Allahu akbar” — the Arabic phrase meaning “God is great” — should be arrested. Moreover, in May this year, former Tory vice-chair Lee Anderson alleged that London Mayor Sadiq Khan was under the control of “Islamists” and that he “hates this country… our heritage, our culture.”