Lee Anderson’s political attack against Sadiq Khan crossed the line

There are so many things that Londoners could lay at Sadiq Khan’s door in his failure to be an effective Mayor of London – but being a friend of Islamists, having ‘given control of London to his mates’ as Lee Anderson commented, was not one of them.

It’s not only set back a moderate debate about faith and diaspora groups by some way, but it’s a grotesque caricature from which many of the four million Muslims in the UK and in particular the 1.3 million in London would understandably take offence.

This was a political attack that crossed the line. There is a debate to be had about tensions between some community groups, about agitation by some extremists and how well some communities are effectively integrating.

But this is so easily lost when entrenched political leaders, commentators and social media keyboard warriors forget to count to 10 before having their say.

When a politician crosses a line, it’s too easy to fail to speak up, for fear of being accused of ‘blue on blue’ attacks if Conservative. But it’s also risky when those on whose behalf we are speaking up for, use it to double down for their own offensive charge.

That happened when I tried to voice in a radio interview why some politicians felt emboldened to use such terms; perceptions of a changing neighbourhood and areas that are seen by some as ‘no-go’ areas. This gave rise to accusations of me espousing conspiracy theories, as pushed by Katie Hopkins and others.

My point was not to write off entire neighbourhoods, but to bring to the fore how a tiny minority can distort reality and thus the language used by Lee Anderson and others that I was there to condemn.

The ‘Muslim Patrols’ by a small vigilante group a few years ago in Tower Hamlets led to headline after headline fuelling discord.

The recent Hitzb Ut-Tahrir organised protests in East London would have struck fear in any British Jew in the vicinity.

If we don’t address these issues in a grown-up way, we cede the ground to those who want to include everyone with a different faith and too often, a different skin colour within those headlines.

But again, these examples are a miniscule proportion of British Muslims who dominate the coverage, discourse and popular perception by their mindless actions.

After a decade or so of supporting and indeed championing our British Muslim communities, to be accused of being an Islamophobe basically leads me to step out of continuing that support and retreating to support communities and causes that want to have constructive dialogue. Another moderate voice lost to the debate.

In my four years as Minister for London, I’ve heard colleagues support the term “Londonistan” and others claiming Islamists are in charge of Britain. Both unacceptable, both largely ignored by too many people in my own party and elsewhere who should know better.

That’s not necessarily systematic Islamophobia, the irrational fear of Islam; it’s the fear of taking a long-term decision for a brighter future to coin a phrase.

The saying goes: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

If in condemning inflammatory behaviour, I get wrapped up as a bad guy, then that’s one more ‘good man’ changing his course to do nothing in the future. Another moderate voice lost to the cause that many of us have shared for so long.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.