A new report from the Policy Exchange think tank – backed by ex-EHRC chief Kishwer Falkner – claims police impartiality is under threat from Muslim police staff networks. And it proposes a new bill to tackle two-tier policing…
The report, co-authored by former Detective Chief Inspector David Spencer, Policy Exchange Head of Extremism Dr Paul Stott and ex-No10 SpAd Andrew Gilligan, finds the National Association of Muslim Police and its force-level offshoots have waded into contentious political rows. While platforming individuals and organisations with eyebrow-raising backgrounds…
The Met’s Association of Muslim Police invited Husam Zomlot, then Palestinian Head of Mission and now Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, to speak at its 2024 AGM. At its 2026 AGM the network hosted a Muslim Council of Britain speaker alongside Majid Iqbal, CEO of the Islamophobia Response Unit. Successive governments have declined to engage with the MCB and both had attacked GMP over the July 2024 Manchester Airport incident, where a female officer’s nose was broken and Mohammed Fahir Amaaz was later jailed for three and a half years for assault. Iqbal referred to “the unjustifiable action of the police, the violent actions of the police” and the MCB’s annual report called it “the police attack on passengers at Manchester Airport”…
Elsewhere the report says Superintendent Hasson Shigdar, Vice Chair of the West Midlands Association of Muslim Police and Head of Prevent for the force’s Counter Terrorism Unit, has reposted material from Islamist preacher Bilal Philips. NAMP has also campaigned to change the language used in counter-terrorism policing, and previously published a paper the Jewish Leadership Council said contained elements that were “grossly offensive”. The Met’s Turkish Police Association, meanwhile, visited the Turkish Embassy with the AMP and was “gifted awards” for contributions to London’s Turkish and Islamic communities. It has flown the flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a state recognised by no country except Turkey…
The report also reveals the National Police Chiefs’ Council has watered down its draft impartiality rules for national staff networks after media coverage and complaints from the networks themselves. This despite internal warnings that staff networks should not publicly criticise government policy…
Policy Exchange proposes a new Police Impartiality Act to abolish staff networks. And additional powers of oversight…
Read the full report here…
Asked by Lobby hacks about his past comments on Trump (“any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now”) Burnham was blithe:
“Politicians say things throughout their career, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in.”
Were it so easy…