Islamophobia move a risk to free speech, claim Tories

LABOUR risks “fanning the flames of division” in a “cynical bid for votes” in its support for an official definition of “Islamophobia”, leading Conservatives claim.

- BY DAVID WILLIAMSON

The Tories fear a working group will have been pushed by hard line groups to adopt wording which could “introduce a back door blasphemy law” and chill freedom of speech. The body, led by former Tory Attorney General Dominic Grieve, was launched to provide “a working definition of anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia which is reflective of a wide range of perspectives and priorities of British Muslims”.