Category Archives: State Oppression

Michael Gove accused of using ‘Trojan Horse’ row to push anti-Islam agenda

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Michael Gove Celsius 7-7Michael Gove has been accused of cynically using the “Trojan Horse” schools row to push an ideological anti-Islamic agenda within the Government.

Whitehall sources revealed that behind the scenes the Education Secretary has been pressing David Cameron for months to widen the Government’s definition of Muslim “extremism”. And they suggested that he has used allegations of a plot to “take over” a number of schools in Birmingham to press the Prime Minister to agree tough new measures to secularise schools in Muslim areas.

One said: “Michael Gove’s views are so incredibly black and white. It’s either his way or no way. He seems to think that anybody who strictly follows Islam is not really integrated. And he thinks anybody who holds conservative Muslim views is a bit of an extremist. He has been using Birmingham to pursue an ideological agenda that he’s had for many years.”

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Education experts voice fury over Ofsted’s ‘Trojan Horse’ schools inquiry

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ofsted logoAn ideology “at odds with traditional British values” has taken hold at the schools inspectorate Ofsted, a group of leading educationalists and Muslim leaders have warned.

Led by Sir Tim Brighouse, a former chief education officer in Birmingham, the 20 experts – unhappy at the way Ofsted has conducted inspections into schools allegedly infiltrated by conservative Muslims – say in a letter to the Guardian that it is at risk of compromising political independence by producing “tarnished reports”.

Their intervention comes days before Ofsted publishes results of an inspection of 21 schools ordered by education secretary, Michael Gove, after claims conservative Muslims were trying to infiltrate the governing bodies of Birmingham schools in a plot dubbed Operation Trojan Horse.

On Tuesday, further evidence also emerged of abrupt shifts in Ofsted’s inspection results, with a leaked inspection report showing that a second secondary school in the city that had been previously rated as good or outstanding in November 2013 is expected to be downgraded to inadequate when its new report is published next week.

Describing the mass inspection as “a landmark in the history of education in these islands”, Brighouse and the other signatories argue: “First-hand accounts of the Ofsted inspections that have emerged are disturbing. They suggest that inspectors were poorly prepared and had an agenda that calls into question Ofsted’s claim to be objective and professional in its appraisal of standards in schools serving predominantly Muslim pupils.

“It is beyond belief that schools which were judged less than a year ago to be outstanding are now widely reported as ‘inadequate’, despite having the same curriculum, the same students, the same leadership team and the same governing body. This is uncharted territory, with Ofsted being guided by an ideology at odds with the traditional British values which schools are meant to espouse, particularly fairness, justice and respect for others.”

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The government review into the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain: Unravelling the motives

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cordoba Foundation Muslim Brotherhood meetingThe Cordoba Foundation convened a timely and important seminar at the Royal Overseas League, Green Park in London, which analysed the British Prime Minister’s decision to conduct a “review” into the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain. The seminar examined the motivations and the potential outcomes of the review.

A distinguished panel comprised of Lord Ken Macdonald QC, journalist Peter Oborne, Dr Maha Azzam, Chair of Egyptians for Democracy UK, Mona al-Qazzaz, Muslim Brotherhood spokeswoman and Dr Anas Altikriti, CEO of The Cordoba Foundation, addressed the topic from numerous angles and took questions from the floor.

The packed audience included academics, policy-makers, reporters and journalists, diplomats, campaigners, and faith and community leaders.

Report available here
Video available here

Cordoba Foundation news report, 3 June 2014

Six Birmingham schools face censure by Ofsted after Trojan Horse inquiry

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, is to censure half a dozen schools in Birmingham for failing to prepare pupils “for life in modern Britain”, when Ofsted publishes the results of its investigations into the Trojan Horse affair, in which it was alleged there was an Islamist plot to subvert schools in the city.

The tranche of reports on 21 state schools, which could be published as early as this week, say there was scant evidence of religious extremism on a daily basis in classrooms, with most criticism reserved for school management and cases of overbearing behaviour by school governors.

Ofsted’s inspectors appear to have been unable to find much evidence of claims of homophobia or gender discrimination, which have been alleged by anonymous former teachers at some of the schools.

Six schools, including three operated by the Park View Academy Trust – Park View academy, Golden Hillock secondary and Nansen primary schools – are expected to be rated as “inadequate” and placed in special measures, allowing the Department for Education to remove the trust from the running of schools and replace their governors.

In the case of Park View, the inadequate grade would come a little more than two years after Ofsted inspectors rated the school as outstanding in all areas and praised it for its excellent academic results and inclusivity. In the two subsequent years its exam results have improved, but the latest Ofsted evaluation downgrades teaching and achievement.

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Ofsted inspectors make U-turn on ‘Trojan Horse’ school, leak shows

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Park View School

Ofsted’s first inspection of Park View academy – at the centre of the Trojan Horse allegations of an Islamist plot – cleared the school of allegations of discrimination and retained its “outstanding” rating, according to a leaked draft of the inspector’s recommendations seen by the Guardian.

The results of that initial inspection were rejected just a few days later when Ofsted inspectors re-entered the school and overturned their initial findings, replacing a string of relatively minor recommendations with more severe criticism that could see it placed in special measures as early as next week.

The revelation is the latest twist in the so-called “Trojan Horse” saga, which has seen claims of Islamist plots to take over schools in Birmingham turn into a political row that has engulfed the education secretary, Michael Gove, Ofsted chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, Birmingham city council and Britain’s former senior anti-terror policeman, recruited by Gove as a special education commissioner.

At the centre of the saga is Park View, a school rated by Ofsted as outstanding as recently as 2012 and praised by Wilshaw for its extraordinary exam success, despite having 60% of its pupils eligible for free school meals – three times the national average – in a deprived, heavily Muslim part of Birmingham.

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Britain’s Muslim Brotherhood review still poses puzzling questions

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Time’s up for submissions to the British government’s controversial review of the Muslim Brotherhood – though it is just a coincidence that the May 30 deadline comes just as Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi is confirmed as Egypt’s next president. Anyone who wanted to could send evidence (maximum 3,000 words) to the cabinet’s national security secretariat in Whitehall, which is coordinating the work being done by Sir John Jenkins, the UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

The terms of reference include “the philosophy, activities, impact and influence on UK national interests, at home and abroad, of the Muslim Brotherhood and of government policy towards the organisation.”

No other countries are mentioned but critics insist the “review” (inside suspicious inverted commas) is directly linked to events in Egypt, where Sisi’s election victory follows the army’s removal of the Brotherhood’s democratically-elected (but deeply unpopular) Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 – and the bloodshed and repression that followed. In an open letter published in the Guardian this week they warned of a “dangerous precedent” and fretted that it might “represent a risk to civil liberties and further erode human rights standards”.

Concerns persist that the review is the result of pressure from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Arab oil monarchies which persecute Islamists and are hugely important markets and clients for the UK, and have been instrumental in backing and bankrolling Sisi’s crackdown in Egypt. The authorities in Cairo have of course been banging the drum as well.

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Luton Muslim school demands Ofsted re-inspection over ‘extremism’ claims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Olive Tree Primary SchoolA Muslim school says it will seek legal action unless a new Ofsted inspection is carried out, after saying it was depicted it as a “hotbed of extremism”.

The Olive Tree Primary School in Luton said it was criticised for promoting fundamentalist Islamic beliefs. It added that inspectors also asked children inappropriate questions about homosexuality and terrorism.

Ofsted has declined to comment on the draft report, which it says was given to the school “in confidence”.

The independent school said it was rated “inadequate” by the educated watchdog after it carried out an emergency inspection, triggered by its headteacher expressing views about Islam and homosexuality on local radio. Inspectors subsequently withdrew from the school on the second day following complaints about their questions on homosexuality, but the body said it had already gained “sufficient evidence” to form a report.

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Queensland rejects anti-niqab bill

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Peter WellingtonThe Queensland government has rejected a push by independents and minor parties to force Muslim women to remove their burqas or veils to prove their identity.

The bill, introduced by the independent MP for Nicklin, Peter Wellington, would have allowed lawyers, police, prison officers, justices of the peace and other “persons of responsibility” to require a person to remove any face covering to establish their identity.

Wellington said the measure was especially necessary in light of the upcoming G20 meeting in Brisbane. “It is not about religion; it is about doing the right thing, about making sure there is security in Queensland,” he said.

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