Lee Jasper replies to the chair of the Commission for Racial Equality: “Asked whether the word multiculturalism should be killed off, he replied: ‘Yes, let’s do that. Multiculturalism suggests separateness.’ Confronted by the Spectator‘s Rod Liddle and asked if Islam was an issue for the CRE – in particular if it was ‘merely a matter of culture’ rather than race – Phillips’s response spoke volumes. ‘Well privately I would go quite a long way down the route you’re taking. It is not primarily an issue of race.’ … But the truth is that vile anti-Muslim prejudice, using the religion of a community to attempt to sideline and blame it for many of society’s ills, is the cutting edge of racism in British society. Those who consider themselves anti-racists need to wake up to this fact.”

Guardian, 12 October 2005