A Yorkshire MP has called on Muslims in Britain to fly the Union Jack from mosques as a show of national unity.
Shipley’s Conservative MP Philip Davies submitted an early day motion which says that it would “show everyone that those in the Muslim community are very keen to integrate and positively contribute to good community relationships in the UK”.
However leading Muslim figures in Yorkshire accused Mr Davies of singling out their community, described his comments as offensive and likely to do more harm than good. Rashid Awan, president of the Pakistani Society of West Yorkshire said: “To identify Muslims as needing to do this will aggravate the situation.” Shahid Malik, the Muslim Labour MP for Dewsbury said: “What this country need is not more flags flying above mosques but less irresponsible politicians.”
Davies, you may remember, figured in the entirely spurious Sun report about “Muslim yobs” wrecking the intended home of soldiers who had served in Afghanistan. He was quoted as saying: “This is outrageous. If there’s anybody who should fuck off it’s the Muslims who are doing this kind of thing.” Though the story was soon revealed to be false, Davies refused to issue a public apology for his provocative remarks. If we were looking for advice on how to improve community relations, Philip Davies MP is the last person we’d turn to.
Mind you, Davies does have his admirers.