Housing has long been an issue close to my heart. Back in 1989, I started work at COPEC, a housing charity in Birmingham. And later I served as Labour’s housing minister when we made massive progress in tackling rough sleeping.
I was therefore delighted last year to be appointed to chair Midland Heart, one of the country’s leading housing associations.
In the intervening months, I have worked hard to support the organisation and so I was, naturally, shocked to learn on Friday that I had been suspended and now face being driven out permanently after a campaign organised by political opponents, extremists and an online mob driven by woke ideology.
What was my offence? I made the mistake of calling Hamas a ‘death cult of Islamist murderers and rapists’ in a tweet nine days ago [Sat 10 Feb].
The word ‘Islamists’, it must be noted, refers not to Muslims in general but only to violent religious extremists who espouse a warped form of Islam. The term is used by the government, universities and think tanks.
I have said repeatedly that the vast majority of Muslims are just as appalled by racism and extremism as anyone else, but political opponents and extremists have nonetheless accused me of ‘Islamophobia’.
Pro-Palestine protesters march through the streets of London last week
Armed Palestinians storm through Gaza during the Israel Hamas war
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis town, southern Gaza
Their campaign has led to a torrent of abuse and even threats. That’s water off a duck’s back to me, but Midland Heart received many such messages too.
On Wednesday, I deleted the tweet to avoid further harassment of their staff but did not apologise as I had done nothing wrong and stand by my description of Hamas.
But this was not enough for the Midland Heart board, which met without me, decided my position was untenable and then announced I had been suspended.
I am so grateful to Housing Secretary Michael Gove and so many others for speaking up in my support.
Like me and, no doubt, the public in general, they are aghast to see extremists and the hard-Left hounding people out of their jobs.
It’s worth looking at who has been behind the campaign to oust me.
First, there is Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend), a hardline pressure group whose CEO signed a statement in support of the so-called ‘armed resistance’ of Hamas, arguing they should not be accused of terrorism and, inevitably, demanding Israel be ‘dismantled’.
They are so far outside the mainstream that the government refuses even to meet them.
Then there is the hard-Left campaigner Gary Spedding, once deported from Israel over his involvement in violent protest in Belfast, who spearheaded attacks on me on social media.
Also helping to focus minds was Lara Oyedele, a senior figure in housing, who disgracefully said: ‘Imagine if someone else wrote this and replaced ‘Islamist’ with ‘Jewish’!’ — as if being of the Jewish faith is equivalent to being a religious extremist.
The most bizarre aspect of the saga involves the police who called late one night asking about my ‘location and safety’. Naively, I thought they were worried about threats against me.
How wrong I was. I was told later that they had received complaints about my tweet and had carried out an investigation but decided not to take any action against me!
They informed me I would not be recorded as responsible for a ‘non-crime hate incident’ but that I would have been, had the rules not changed last year.
What on earth is a non-crime hate incident and why are the police investigating the use of an established term like ‘Islamist’?
The public will be furious to discover time is wasted on this nonsense when only two per cent of rapes or four per cent of burglaries result in someone even being charged. I know rank-and-file coppers share their anger.
We have to stop this nonsense. Extremists must be faced down, not appeased. Ministers must show leadership, the police need to concentrate on tackling real crimes, and serious organisations should not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by people with sinister or extremist agendas.
Groups like Mend must be recognised by all mainstream political parties as the troublemakers that they are.
Most important of all, we must all stand up for our democracy and freedom of speech.
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