Appointing an anti-muslim hatred adviser has been a tough task for the government. The last candidate, charity Faith Matters chief Fiyaz Mughal, withdrew earlier this month over extremist threats. Now it looks like they’ve managed to secure a replacement. Guido hears the favoured candidate, Haras Rafiq, will be announced on Monday along with a new report on community relations. Rafiq is the current director of the charity Muslims Against Antisemitism and served as CEO of counter-islamist think tank the Quilliam Foundation for 7 years. The tsar is intended to help the government “ensure that Muslims are not targeted for hatred, persecution or discrimination.” The government will be hoping that he will last longer than the last candidate…

At the end of January, it emerged CCHQ scrapped “unconscious bias” training for parliamentary candidates, after a backlash from Tory MPs accusing the party’s HQ of pushing “divisive nonsense”. It turned out that scrapping the training was one of the last things Zahawi ever did…

Now Guido can reveal CCHQ staff haven’t been blessed with the same anti-woke move.

On Friday, staff received an hour-long session on “Anti-Muslim Hatred Awareness”, which included a group quiz on whether something is hateful or not. Staff were taught the differences between unpleasantry and hate crimes, with the implication being that it’s difficult to prove the distinction. 

The lecture was part of a broader series of lectures on “awareness“, with staff receiving a similar session on antisemitism last month. They’re being spearheaded by the “Community Engagement Team” inside CCHQ, who also organise party HQ trips to places during religious festivals, including to a recent fireworks display for Diwali. Guido’s sure MPs and activists alike will be delighted to hear this is how staff are spending their time given the current dire state of CCHQ’s finances…

Guido presumes that Sky News presenter and host of the station’s Sunday politics show, Trevor Phillips, will not be taking up his Labour Party membership, which was reportedly reinstated 3 weeks ago. Philips was suspended following trumped-up accusations of alleged islamophobia…

Sky News guidelines clearly state that journalists must adhere to “the principles of fairness, accuracy impartiality, legality and rigour” and that the programme must never “show favour”.  Being a paid up member of the Labour Party membership does bring into question that impartiality….

Phillips, who referred to British muslims as “a nation within a nation” and argued that the centre of gravity of British Muslim opinion was “some distance away from the centre of gravity of everybody else’s”, was apparently reinstated without the matter having gone to a National Executive Committee disciplinary panel. Phillips, at the time, condemned the suspension as political gangsterism by then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn…

CCHQ will be relieved that the findings of the the long-expected independent investigation into alleged discrimination within the party. A number of key findings rejected critic charges and found in favour of the party on an institutional basis:

• No evidence that complaints related to Islam are treated differently from those related to other forms of discrimination.
• No evidence of attempts to pressure or interfere with the handling of individual complaints.
• No evidence to back up Baroness Warsi’s claims of “institutional racism” within the party.

The report also says the Muslim Council of Britain, who questioned the impartiality of the investigation chair, failed to provide evidence despite being asked on multiple occasions.

The report does recommend points of improvement for the party, not least “clear evidence of a Party complaints system in need of overhaul”, with claims the party’s Complaints Team is under-resourced and inadequately trained. It also points to:

• A lack of transparency in the complains process
• No time frames for resolution
• Social media rules aren’t widely known or angered to
• 1,418 complains between 2015 and 2020, concerning 727 incidents of alleged discrimination.
  • Two thirds of which related to allegations of anti-Muslim discrimination.

The most substantive criticism is of weak local party association systems for identifying discrimination, rather than at national level at CCHQ.

Hacks will no doubt focus on the section relating to Boris’s “letterboxes” column. The PM repeated his usual excuse of having written “millions of words as a journalist” and some things had been taken out of context, however he does say sorry:

“I am obviously sorry for any offence taken. Would I use some of the offending language from my past writings today? Now that I am PM, I would not.”

The report also notes that comments such as those by the PM, and Zac Goldsmith’s mayoral campaign, “give the impression to many that the Party and its leadership are insensitive to Muslim communities”. The report’s author, Professor Swaran Singh, says crucially: “I’m not saying that the party leadership IS insensitive to Muslim communities. I’m saying that the perception is very strong.” CCHQ says they’re considering the report and will respond later today, though the PM indicated to the chair he will implement many of the inquiry’s findings…

UPDATE: Guido learns a CCHQ meeting of all affiliate groups just took place. The party is now asking for feedback on the complaints process. The party were keen to highlight how “it’s good the report showed there was no political interference”

Former Labour Islington Councillor Rakhia Ismail, who quit Labour in October over claims of racism and oppression by the party, has said “the antisemitism crisis was just the start of Labour’s problems,” after a report out on Friday showed more than one-in-three Muslim Labour members have witnessed Islamophobia in the party. Ismail, who was the UK’s first hijab-wearing mayor, tells Guido:

“A third of Labour’s muslim members have experienced Islamophobia. I was one of them.”

Going onto to punchily argue:

“Instead of wildly accusing others of racism, Labour should get their own house in order. They could start by investigating my case. Otherwise I won’t be the last member to leave and join the Conservatives.”

Over the weekend the left of the Labour Party began attacking those who spent years reporting on Labour’s antisemitism crisis for not turning their attention this new chronic problem within Labour’s ranks. Given that 60% to 70% of Muslims in recent elections have voted Labour, this would be an existential electoral issue if their vote disappeared the way the Jewish vote did in 2019…