Paul Goodman, Tory shadow minister for communities, speaking in the House of Commons debate on antisemitism:
“We believe that it is wrong for institutions to participate in events that are hosted by anti-Semitic parties such as the British National party. It therefore follows that it is also wrong for them to participate in events hosted by other anti-Semitic organisations, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir. I make that point because it was reported this week that John Holmwood, a sociology professor at Birmingham university, which is an excellent institution, spoke at a local debate that was organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir.
“It should also be unacceptable for local authorities to support groups that are willing to engage actively with Hizb ut-Tahrir, such as the Cordoba Foundation; we understand that that is the case in Tower Hamlets. The Cordoba Foundation appears to be involved in Campusalam – a Government-sponsored programme to tackle extremism on campus – so we would welcome clarification from the Minister on that.”
The Cordoba Foundation in fact organised a public debate (see here, here and here) at the London Muslim Centre in which Osama Saeed and Lord Ahmed argued against the HT view that Muslims should not participate in electoral politics in Britain. Goodman, along with David Cameron, evidently prefers that such views should be left unchallenged – and, moreover, that organisations like the Cordoba Foundation that do challenge these views should be denied government support.
We already know that Cameron wants to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir and, if he wins the next general election, will no doubt proceed to do so. Of course, the double standards that allow the racist thugs of the BNP to operate legally while a peaceful Islamist organisation like HT is banned can only strengthen the arguments of the real extremists who preach the futility of non-violence.
The stupidity and irresponsibility of the Tories evidently knows no bounds.