The disturbing truth about Britain’s Islamopopulism movement

One of the under-reported stories of the local elections is the steady growth of Muslim independents. Including Lutfur Rahman’s Aspire in Tower Hamlets, east London, at least 100 such councillors were elected last week, adding to the dozens already in place and the four independent Muslim MPs elected in 2024. What links has this new “Islamopopulist” movement to Islamism and other ideologies hostile to democracy? Or is it actually a sign of belief in democracy, people organising in a normal civic manner to advance their interests like other groups before them?

The two groups have a common fixation with Gaza and Palestine A new report today for Policy Exchange, co-authored by me, has done a deep dive to try to answer this and other questions, finding some rather disturbing answers. Islamopopulism is a loose alliance of local independent groupings and two national initiatives, The Muslim Vote (TMV) and Vote Palestine. It’s not tightly centrally controlled; most decisions are made locally, rather than at the TMV level.

And there’s no suggestion that every Muslim independent signs up to everything that TMV, Vote Palestine or all the others believe. But nor are the independents truly independent; there are clear links between them, and between them, TMV and other national bodies. TMV, we find, has a “five-election plan spanning 25 years.” It is funded by a body which says society should “honour” and “look up to” Muslims. Senior figures in it compare their work to the Muslim leader Saladin recapturing Jerusalem from the Christians during the Crusades.

In a fracturing political system, TMV says Muslims will be able to exercise “real power” as kingmakers. As the organisation’s data chief, Riaz Hassan, puts it: “When you’ve got a close contest between the two political parties then you’ve got a lot of leverage in terms of policymaking…and that’s where you have the real power moving forward.” Most popular What would those policies be? TMV’s demands are overwhelmingly communal, with almost nothing to say on any of the issues which British voters rank as priorities, or on most of the issues which Muslim voters rank as priorities: the cost of living, the economy, health, employment, the environment.

Instead, they seek fundamental changes to the UK’s international alliances, and to dismantle key parts of its counter-terrorism and counter-extremism apparatus , above all the Prevent programme. Parts of the movement use deeply concerning rhetoric about “Zionists.” One key figure claims that Zionists aim “to eventually rule everything.” TMV has written of “the necessity of building a democratic, anti-imperialist, and explicitly anti-Zionist political party in Britain.”

The other main national campaign, Vote Palestine, includes the Palestine Youth Movement, which blames “the Zionist movement” for the defeat of socialism in Britain, the rise of the far right, attacks on privacy and protest and much else they say is wrong with the country. It says the “Zionist project as backed by an imperialist world-system… span[s] the globe” and demands the creation of a “revolutionary” party in Britain to “confront” Zionism.

One prominent Islamopopulist, Shakeel Afsar, co-leader of the Independent Candidate Alliance which won multiple seats in Birmingham last week, goes even further, demanding that the British government arm Hamas. “As a British taxpayer, I want us to fund the Palestinians,” he said , in a previously unreported interview with Iran’s Press TV. “I want us to give them weapons, guns, missiles and allow them to liberate themselves against their occupiers.”

TMV has links with many extremist or problematic individuals and groups, including supporters of terrorism, leaders of a group now banned as terrorist, and holders of deeply hateful views. Some key Islamopopulists are convicted criminals. Others have been charged with major criminal offences and await trial. Others are under criminal investigation. Parts of the movement promote alarmism, disinformation, and virulence towards opponents.

TMV claims that “Muslim life in Britain hangs in the balance” with a “political crusade” which could end with the Government bulldozing mosques and burning the Quran. Afsar’s co-leader in Birmingham, Ahkmed Yakoob, attacks “Western degeneracy,” and says that women would rather stay at home than work. Muslim Labour activists, TMV says, are “parasites” who “prey on our community for personal gain.” The other key question is whether the Greens can be a vehicle for Islamopopulism.

The two groups have a common fixation with Gaza and Palestine, and the Greens, as The Spectator has reported , have their own share of people with highly problematic views on “Zionists” and Jews. New figures yesterday showed that the Green vote share last week increased by 14 percentage points in areas that were 10 per cent or more Muslim, compared with only a four-point increase in wards where less than 2 per cent were Muslim. TMV claims to have held discussions with Zack Polanski and seeks a “grand deal” with the Greens to “divide up the country.”

Polanski has done at least one joint event with TMV, which endorsed dozens of Green candidates at last week’s elections and 56 Green parliamentary candidates in 2024. But the Greens have so far refused to stand aside for Islamopopulists in any contest, leading to bad blood in some places. We’ll be looking at some of these themes in more detail in the days and weeks ahead. Andrew Gilligan is a senior fellow at Policy Exchange