Has the Government brought the MCB back in from the cold?
There is speculation in Conservative Party circles that the Government has re-engaged with the Muslim Council of Britain as a “partner” in its attempts to create “community cohesion”.
The Conservativehome blogger writes: “Last year Ruth Kelly — to her credit — broke off relations with the Muslim Council of Britain. She criticised the MCB's boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day. The MCB's extremism has been well-documented by the New Statesman's Martin Bright and by our own Michael Gove in Celsius 7/7. Yesterday, as revealed by The Spectator's Coffee House blog, Hazel Blears has u-turned on Mrs Kelly's policy and appears to have restarted engagement with the MCB. … Paul Goodman MP, Shadow Communities Minister, has written to Hazel Blears demanding an explanation:
"As you know, Ruth Kelly announced last year in a major speech "a fundamental rebalancing of our relationship with Muslim organisations from now on". She continued: "In future, I am clear that our strategy of funding and engagement must shift significantly towards those organisations that are taking a proactive leadership role in tackling extremism and defending our shared values." She said that it was "not good enough" to pay lip service to combating extremism.
The speech was briefed by the Government as signalling the end of its engagement with the MCB as a partner in preventing extremism. Indeed, Ms Kelly specifically criticised the MCB's boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day, as follows: "I can't help wondering why those in leadership positions who say they want to achieve religious tolerance and a cohesive society would choose to boycott an event which marks, above all, our common humanity and respect for each other."
“Yesterday, your Department conspicuously failed to deny that the Government has once again engaged the MCB as a partner. This is a significant policy U-turn. I write to ask what's changed in less than a year. On what basis do you believe that the MCB is now proactively tackling extremism? Does it plan, for example, to attend Holocaust Memorial Day?"
This re-engagement with the MCB follows Gordon Brown's failure to act against Hizb ut-Tahrir, the blog said.
