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The government ordered an inspection of the Olive Tree school following comments by its head, Abdul Qadeer Baksh, that in an ideal Islamic state, homosexuality would be punishable by death.<ref name="streets"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/21/gove-investigations-muslim-schools-uk-trojan-horse | title=Michael Gove calls for further schools investigations after Trojan Horse affair | publisher=Guardian | accessdate=12 June 2014}}</ref>
The government ordered an inspection of the Olive Tree school following comments by its head, Abdul Qadeer Baksh, that in an ideal Islamic state, homosexuality would be punishable by death.<ref name="streets"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/21/gove-investigations-muslim-schools-uk-trojan-horse | title=Michael Gove calls for further schools investigations after Trojan Horse affair | publisher=Guardian | accessdate=12 June 2014}}</ref>


An Ofsted inspection found that The Olive Tree Primary School in [[Luton]], an Islamic school which shares its premises with a mosque, had books in its library with content that had "no place in British society". The books contained fundamentalist views and promoted executions, stoning and lashing as appropriate punishments. Books available to the children included one which advocated parents hitting children if they did not pray by the age of 10 and another which praised individuals who "loved death more than life in their pursuit of righteous and true religion." Additionally, the inspection stated that "there are too few books about the world's major religions other than Islam." Senior leaders did not ensure "balanced views of the world" were taught and and that "contact with different cultures, faiths and traditions is too limited to promote tolerance and respect for the views, lifestyles and customs of other people."<ref name=express/><ref name=books>{{cite web|title=Books 'promoting stoning' found at Olive Tree Primary School|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-27761075|publisher=BBC}}</ref>
An Ofsted inspection found that the Islamic school which shares its premises with a mosque, had books in its library with content that had "no place in British society". The books contained fundamentalist views and promoted executions, stoning and lashing as appropriate punishments. Books available to the children included one which advocated parents hitting children if they did not pray by the age of 10 and another which praised individuals who "loved death more than life in their pursuit of righteous and true religion." Additionally, the inspection stated that "there are too few books about the world's major religions other than Islam." Senior leaders did not ensure "balanced views of the world" were taught and and that "contact with different cultures, faiths and traditions is too limited to promote tolerance and respect for the views, lifestyles and customs of other people."<ref name=express/><ref name=books>{{cite web|title=Books 'promoting stoning' found at Olive Tree Primary School|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-27761075|publisher=BBC}}</ref>
The school was rated "inadequate".<ref name=express>{{cite web|title=Five schools placed in special measures after 'Trojan Horse' inspections|url=http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/481233/Islamic-schools-in-Birmingham-placed-in-special-measures-over-Trojan-Horse-fears|publisher=The Express}}</ref>
The school was rated "inadequate".<ref name=express>{{cite web|title=Five schools placed in special measures after 'Trojan Horse' inspections|url=http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/481233/Islamic-schools-in-Birmingham-placed-in-special-measures-over-Trojan-Horse-fears|publisher=The Express}}</ref>


Revision as of 17:45, 12 June 2014

For the ufology book, see Operation Trojan Horse (book).

Operation Trojan Horse was an organised attempt by Islamists to co-opt schools in England and run them according to their extremist ideals.[1][2][3] The name, based on the Ancient Greek legend, came from a leaked letter of questionable authenticity discovered in March 2014, alleged to be from Islamists in Birmingham, England detailing how to wrest control of a school and speculating about expanding the scheme to other cities. Around a month later, Birmingham City Council said that it had received "hundreds" of allegations of school takeover plots, similar to those illustrated in the letter, some dating back over 20 years.[4]

Investigations by Ofsted and the Education Funding Authority in 21 schools in Birmingham found evidence of an organised campaign to target certain schools by Islamists and that head teachers have been "marginalised or forced out of their jobs".[2][3][5]

Ofsted subsequently expanded their investigation into schools in the north and south-east of England. They investigated schools in East London, Bradford and Luton over concerns regarding a limited curriculum and pupils' detachment from the wider community.[6] One school in Luton, the Olive Tree Primary school, was found to stock books promoting fundamentalist views which Ofsted said had "no place in British society."[6] One book in the school's library promoted stoning and flogging as appropriate punishments.[7]

Golden Hillock School, Nansen Primary School, Park View School - all run by the Park View Educational Trust - Oldknow Academy and Saltley School were placed in special measures after inspectors found systemic failings including the schools having failed to take adequate steps to safeguard pupils against extremism. Another school investigated, Alston Primary, was already in special measures. A sixth school was labelled inadequate for its poor educational standards and twelve schools were found needing of improvements. Three schools were commended.[3][8]

Birmingham City Council was accused by Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw of a "serious failure" in supporting schools in protecting children from extremism.[3] Its leader, Sir Albert Bore, said that the Council accepted the Ofsted findings that schools in the city were failing pupils.[9] Birmingham City Council had imposed a temporary freeze on the appointment of school governors after probes into Operation Trojan Horse were announced.[10]

Tahir Alam, the chairman of the Park View Educational Trust which runs six schools in Birmingham was found to have written a 72-page document for the Muslim Council of Britain in 2007 detailing a blueprint for the “Islamisation” of secular state schools.[11][12]

British Prime Minister, David Cameron, said that "protecting our children" was "one of the first duties of government" and convened an emergency meeting of the Extremism Taskforce and a ministerial meeting to discuss the affair.[13] He announced proposals to send Ofsted to any school without warning, saying that the schools in question had been able to stage a "cover-up' previously.[14] The government terminated its funding arrangement with three of the schools.[15]

In the wake of the findings, Michael Gove, the Education secretary, announced that all of England’s schools will have to promote "British values" of tolerance and fairness and said that teachers will be banned from the profession if they allow extremists into schools.[16]

A number of governors and the Muslim Council of Britain dubbed the reaction of authorities to the plot a "witch-hunt".[17]

Letter

The leaked letter on the alleged plot was reported by media including the BBC on 7 March 2014.[18] In it, Islamists claimed responsibility for installing a new headteacher at four schools in Birmingham, and highlighted 12 others in the city which would be easy targets due to large Muslim attendance and poor inspection reports.[18] It encouraged parents to complain about the school's leadership with false accusations of sex education, forced Christian prayer and mixed physical education, with the aim of obtaining a new leadership of Islamists.[18] It was also encouraged to attain Academy status for successfully infiltrated schools, so as to have a curriculum independent of the Local Education Authority.[19] The letter was alleged to have been written from Birmingham and sent to a contact in Bradford to expand the operation into that city.[18] Its author described the plan as "totally invisible to the naked eye and [allowing] us to operate under the radar".[19]

Allegations

On 14 April, the City Council confirmed that it had received over 200 reports from parents and staff at 25 schools in Birmingham. Council leader Sir Albert Bore stated that his council had spoken to authorities in Bradford and Manchester, and said that there are "certainly issues in Bradford which have similarities with the issues being spoken about in Birmingham".[20] Concerns have also been raised by the National Association of Head Teachers about schools in parts of East London and other "large cities around the country".[21] Senior Department of Education sources have also been reported as claiming that coordinated attempts to undermine and supplant head teachers have occurred in Bradford, Manchester, and the London boroughs of Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets.[22]

Two anonymous members of staff at Park View School told BBC Radio 4 that school assemblies had praised Anwar al-Awlaki, the former head of Al-Qaeda.[23] Although the school describes itself as "multi-faith", there are claims that the Islamic call to prayer is broadcast to the entire school.[23] Park View Headteacher Lindsey Clark told inspectors that her role had been marginalised and that major decisions were being made by governor Tahir Alam and a small group of "hardliners". A senior teacher told inspectors that the solution to all problems would be a global Caliphate under Sharia law.[24]

Michael White, a former teacher at Park View School which was mentioned in the letter, told the BBC that the school's governing board had been "taken over by a Muslim sect" in 1993. He claims he was pressured to ban sex education and the teaching of non-Muslim religions, and dismissed him in 2003 after he told prospective teachers to question the governors.[25]

In May 2014, the BBC reported that Tim Boyes, the former headteacher of Queensbridge School, had written anonymously to Birmingham City Council in 2010 to try to expose Operation Trojan Horse,[26] and in June a former prospective school governor said that he had informed authorities of the conspiracy in 2008.[27] John Ray, a former governor at Golden Hillock, claims that in the 1990s when John Major was Prime Minister, he made the government aware of Islamists from Hizb ut-Tahrir becoming involved at his school.[28]

Gender segregation and intimidation by governors were alleged at Carlton Bolling College in Bradford

In Bradford, teachers reported instances of governors imposing an Islamic ethos. The BBC reported of gender segregation at a state secondary school, Carlton Bolling College, during trips and after-school workshops, as well as boys-only school trips. The school has a largely Muslim governing body. In 2012, head teacher Chris Robinson resigned, having felt that her reputation, integrity and leadership were being questioned by governors.[29]

Investigation

The Educational Funding Authority, Ofsted and Birmingham City Council agreed to investigate the letter, although West Midlands Police decided that it was not a matter for them.[18] Michael Gove, the Educational Secretary, said that "wider, more comprehensive action" was needed and appointed Peter Clarke, a former senior Metropolitan Police officer and ex-head of the Counter Terrorism Command. to lead the Department for Education analysis of "evidence of extremist infiltration in both academies and council-run schools"[30]

Ofstedy investigated in 21 schools in Birmingham in March 2014. The Education Funding Authority conducted a parallel investigation. Ofsted subsequently expanded their investigation into schools in the north and south-east of England. They investigated schools in East London, Bradford and Luton over concerns regarding a limited curriculum and pupils' detachment from the wider community.[6]

In the Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College in Bradford, a mainly Muslim secondary school,[31] pupils were forced to revise for their GCSE exams outside in the street as staff did not want them speaking to inspectors. The governors of this school had been sacked in April because of inappropriate interference in the running of the school.[32] Teachers had been suspended at the school and its principal, Jennifer McIntosh, and her deputy, has faced attempts by to oust them by governors who wished to instil an Islamic ethos.[31] It was also alleged by teachers that the governors sought to hire the Trojan Horse "ringleader" Tahir Alam and model the school on his Park View School in Birmingham.[31]

On 10 April, Birmingham City Council announced an investigation into the allegations, estimated to last six months.[10] Ian Kershaw, a former Headteacher in nearby Coventry, was named as its full-time special adviser.[33]

In May, Mark Rogers, Birmingham City Council's Chief Executive, had a meeting with head teachers of affected schools. Despite calling for secrecy, a hidden recording was sent to The Daily Telegraph, in which Rogers criticised the approach to the conspiracy by Education Secretary Michael Gove and Chief Schools Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw. He said that the overview report on the matter could trigger “some kind of bloody firestorm” and “may well lead to significant structural proposals” for the city council.[34]

Findings

Investigations by Ofsted and the Education Funding Authority in 21 schools found evidence of "organised campaign to target certain schools" by Islamists.

Golden Hillock School, Nansen Primary School, Park View Academy - all run by the Park View Educational Trust - Oldknow Academy and Saltley School were placed in special measures after inspectors found systemic failings including the schools having failed to take adequate steps to safeguard pupils against extremism. Another school investigated, Alston Primary, was already in special measures. A sixth school was labelled inadequate for its poor educational standards and twelve schools were found needing of improvements. Three schools were commended.[3]

Ofsted expressed concerns about an exclusively Muslim culture in non-faith schools and children not being taught to "develop tolerant attitudes towards other faiths".[3] The inspections found that head teachers have been "marginalised or forced out of their jobs". Ofsted found that the curriculum was being narrowed to reflect the "personal views of a few governors". Teachers reported unfair treatment because of their gender or religious beliefs. Ofsted found a breakdown of trust between governors and staff and that family members had been appointed to unadvertised senior leadership posts[3]

Park View School

At Park View School Ofsted reported that "students are not taught citizenship well enough or prepared properly for life in a multi-cultural and diverse society.”[35]

The EFA inspection found a classroom culture which was not welcoming to non-Muslim pupils. It described a "madrassa curriculum" and reported that "posters were written in Quranic Arabic in most of the classrooms visited. Posters were found in the classrooms encouraging children to begin lessons with a Muslim prayer, one saying: “If you do not pray, you are worse than a kafir”, and staff reported that loudspeakers were set up in the school to broadcast a call to prayer. The few pupils that elected to study a Christianity unit as part of the Religious Studies GCSE course had to "teach themselves", because the teacher focussed on Islamic studies which the majority were studying.[36][37]

Year 11 pupils about to sit their GCSEs at the school were instructed to partake in an Islamic fast, taking neither food nor drink, to place them in the right “spiritual frame of mind” for the exams. Additionally, students were expected to fast during the month of Ramadan. Some staff at the school expressed fear that neither eating nor drinking amid high temperatures during the 18 hours of daylight in the months of June and July would compromise pupils’ health and their ability to learning.[38]

The sexes were segregated in the classrooms and boys and girls suspected of being too friendly towards each other were disciplined. The Department for Education inspection found the seating arrangements “often with boys sitting towards the front of the class and girls at the back or around the sides”. The annual sports event for boys and girls was scheduled in different days.[38] Girls claimed to have been discriminated against and said some were sent home from a tennis tournament because their dress was too "revealing".[39]

Subjects such as Personal, Social and Health Education, Biology and Sex and Relationships Education were bowdlerised to conform with a conservative Islamic teaching. Pupils studying biology were not taught the section of the syllabus about Reproduction and the teacher stated when briefly outlining Evolution that "this is not what we believe".[40] A former staff member said that one teacher had handed out a worksheet stating that women “must obey their husbands,” and told his class that wives were forbidden from refusing their husbands sex.[37]

A former teacher at the school reported that the current head teacher, Monzoor Hussain, expressed “mind-blowing” anti-American views at school assemblies, describing the US as the “source of all evil in the world".[12] In school assemblies, former staff alleged that a senior teacher frequently praised Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda recruiter that had been involved with at least three major terror attacks, and referred to non-Muslims as “kuffar”, an insulting term for infidel. The teacher also used school facilities to copy Osama bin Laden DVDs. External speakers were improperly vetted.[35] An extended Islamic assembly for its Year 10 and 11 pupils was arranged with Sheikh Shady al-Suleiman, an extremist preacher who has called on God to “destroy the enemies of Islam”, “give victory to all the Mujahideen all over the world” and to “prepare us for the jihad”.[41]

A head of department at the school, Inam Ul Haq Anwar, posted on Facebook in support of alleged Islamist extremists, including one that been imprisoned after being convicted of 11 counts of possessing and disseminating terrorist publications.[42] Abid Ali, the head of extra-curricular activities at the school, posted a flyer advertising a meeting in Birmingham in which "raising Muslim children in the West" was to be discussed. The flyer said that "it is only natural that as parents we seek to protect our children from the values of secular culture by inculcating within our children the pristine values of Islam." He also wrote online: "We need a muslim khalifa [movement]. Where the people will be those of imaan [faith] and will be prepared to defend our muslim ummah [nation]. One ummah. Mohammed’s ummah. One deep islam. Fighting to save our religion from the zalims [tyrants]."[42]

A teacher from Park View School was reported to the police after he broke into a female pupil’s mobile telephone to prove she was having a “forbidden” relationship with a boy. The 16-year-old girl's phone was confiscated by the teacher during a Sunday event and then taken to a shop for its passcode to be broken, and its contents were then examined by the school. Texts and images of the girl with a boy, a fellow Year 11 pupil at Park View, were used to justify the girl's suspension weeks before her GCSE exams.[38]


Golden Hillock School

Golden Hillock School in Sparkhill, Birmingham, was put under special measures by Ofsted on 5 June 2014, after being rated "inadequate" in all categories. The inspection said that "too little is done to keep students safe from the risks associated with extremist views".[43] The Ofsted report stated that "students' understanding of other religions is scant as the religious education curriculum focuses primarily on the study of Islam"[44] and said there was a “perceived unfairness and lack of transparency” over appointments to the school and that female members of staff had felt intimidated.[35] Governors at the school banned any discussions regarding sexual orientation and intimacy. This affected the teaching of English, Art, Religious Education and Personal, Social and Health Education. Staff were precluded from teaching Sex and Relationships Advice freely as well as aspects of Safeguarding and Child Protection were jeopardised.[40]

Oldknow Academy

Ofsted found that a small group of governors were "endeavouring to promote a particular and narrow faith-based ideology in what is a maintained and non-faith academy.” Staff were afraid to speak out about the significant changes.[35] Ofsted stated that the school had failed to protect students from "the risks of radicalisation and extremism".[45] The school's curriculum was deemed inadequate because it did not promote tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions.[35]

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) found that the school lacked a balanced and broad curriculum and saw several subjects marginalised. It found that non-Muslim staff were banned from assemblies in which the children were preached at and told that white women were "prostitutes". Children were urged to join in anti-Christian chants.[46][47] Exchange visits with nearby churches had been curtailed.[48] The EFA team concluded: "We saw evidence that Oldknow academy is acting as a faith school and is not making active efforts to make the academy attractive to all faith denominations including pupils of no faith.[48]

Segregation was found in one classroom with girls sitting at the back with their heads covered. The school had spent £50,000 on three subsidised trips to Saudi Arabia so that pupils could visit the cities of Mecca and Medina in what the EFA described as “an extravagant use of public funds”.[49] Pupils and staff stayed in luxury five-star hotels. The contracts for the taxpayer-funded school trips never underwent a formal tender process, and instead a travel firm was used with close links to a current teacher and former director of the school.[50] For three years running non-Muslim pupils and staff were excluded from these trips.[48][51] Christmas events were cancelled and raffles and tombolas were banned at a recent school fete because they were considered un-Islamic.[45][48] The summer play was criticised by staff for its "use of musical instruments” and a teacher was observed covering his ears during his music lesson. Some staff members admonished girls not to partake in school extracurricular visits and activities.[52]

Oldknow’s deputy principal, Mazhar Hussain Al Maazari, posted a comment on Facebook, saying, "do not love the one who does not love Allah".[42] Belal Ballali, the spokesman for the Oldknow Academy Parents’ Association, was reported to have close links to alleged terrorists. Samir Rauf, a teacher at Oldknow and also a governor at another Birmingham school, Small Heath, campaigned in support of Babar Ahmad, an Islamic extremist who was extradited to the U.S. and imprisoned there after pleading guilty to ‘conspiracy and providing material support to terrorism’.[12][42] He is also a member of the "Educational Activists" group of which its leader, Razwan Faraz, says, pursues an “Islamising agenda” in Birmingham state schools.[12]

Nansen Primary School

Pupils had limited knowledge of any religion apart from Islam.[51] Effective strategies were not in place to deal with extremism and “governance, safety, pupils’ cultural development, equal opportunities and the teaching of religious education are all inadequate”.[35] Ofsted found that "the governing body has removed some subjects, such as music, from the timetable."[3][51] Inspectors found that no humanities, arts or music was taught in Year 6 and only "limited" teaching of these subjects in Year 5.[40] The deputy head of Nansen Primary School, Razwan Faraz, leads a group called the “Educational Activists” which he says introduces an “Islamising agenda” in Birmingham state schools. He worked for a charity believed by the US to have links with terrorist organisations.[12]

Saltley School and Specialist Science College

Ofsted found that the governing body interfered with the running of the school and undermined the work of its senior leaders. It criticised the spending of the school's budget on paying private investigators to investigate the emails of senior staff and paying for meals in restaurants.[35]

Olive Tree Primary School

The government ordered an inspection of the Olive Tree school following comments by its head, Abdul Qadeer Baksh, that in an ideal Islamic state, homosexuality would be punishable by death.[53][54]

An Ofsted inspection found that the Islamic school which shares its premises with a mosque, had books in its library with content that had "no place in British society". The books contained fundamentalist views and promoted executions, stoning and lashing as appropriate punishments. Books available to the children included one which advocated parents hitting children if they did not pray by the age of 10 and another which praised individuals who "loved death more than life in their pursuit of righteous and true religion." Additionally, the inspection stated that "there are too few books about the world's major religions other than Islam." Senior leaders did not ensure "balanced views of the world" were taught and and that "contact with different cultures, faiths and traditions is too limited to promote tolerance and respect for the views, lifestyles and customs of other people."[55][7] The school was rated "inadequate".[55]

Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College

During the inspection at Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College in Bradford, a mainly Muslim secondary school,[31] pupils were forced to revise for their GCSE exams outside in the street as staff did not want them to have an opportunity to speak to inspectors.[32]

After resisting attempts by governors to impose an Islamic ethos, teachers were suspended and its principal, Jennifer McIntosh, and her deputy, faced attempts by to oust them.[31] It was alleged by teachers that the governors sought to hire the Trojan Horse "ringleader" Tahir Alam and model the school on his Park View School in Birmingham.[31] The governors of the school were been sacked in April because of inappropriate interference in the running of the school.[32]

Response

Political

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, announced after the investigation that schools must promote "British values"

Prime Minister David Cameron, on a visit to Birmingham, praised his government's swift action in investigating the conspiracy.[56] He said that "protecting our children" was "one of the first duties of government" and convened an emergency meeting of the Extremism Taskforce and a ministerial meeting to discuss the affair.[13] He announced proposals to send Ofsted to any school without warning, saying that the schools in question had been able to stage a "cover-up' previously.[14]

Michael Gove, the Education secretary, announced that all of England’s schools would have to promote "British values" of tolerance and fairness and that teachers would be banned from the profession if they allowed extremists into schools.[16]

Harriet Harman, the shadow Culture secretary, urged the Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid, to protect music from being dropped from school curriculums after learning this had taken place at one of the investigated schools.[52]

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also backed the investigation, stating that schools should not become "silos of segregation".[57]

In a letter to Park View Trust chairman Tahir Alam, Education Minister Lord Nash criticised its running of the schools, saying he was "deeply mindful of the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations." He said the government would be terminating its funding arrangement with three of the schools.[15]

Members of Parliament of all three major parties in Birmingham wrote a joint letter for an inquiry.[58] Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Perry Barr, said that the City Council may have known of previous plots, but not acted due to fears of being seen as anti-Islamic.[59] Mahmood, who is a Muslim, said that he felt that it was certain that "Salafists" were attempting to change the school's secular nature and "split young people away from their parents".[24] He accused Tahir Alam, chairman of the Park View Educational Trust, of "planning this for 15 years" and honing in Birmingham tactics that he had drafted in his 72-page document, published by the Muslim Council of Britain in 2007, on how to subvert schools to fundamentalist Islam.[37]

In May, David Blunkett announced that if in government again, the Labour Party would appoint an ‘Independent Director of School Standards’ with the power to monitor academies as “In April 2014, the alleged Operation Trojan Horse in Birmingham demonstrated the difficulties that have arisen from this ‘absence of transparency’".[60]

The Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, Jim Fitzpatrick, warned of a 'Trojan Horse'-style Islamist plot to infiltrate councils in London. He said that "the Trojan Horse in east London was a political one rather than an educational one" and spoke of racial politics taking hold. He noted that in Tower Hamlets, a borough in which 32 per cent of the population is Bangladeshi, all 18 of its councillors are Bangladeshi and 17 of them are men.[61]

Unions

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) demanded a full review of academies after the letter was revealed, expressing that political and religious groups had exploited the status at "thousands" of schools to indoctrinate children.[62] The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has also expressed concerns about the scope of the problem in other major cities, whilst advising that there was no “cause for panic”.[21] The general secretary of the headteachers’ union, Russell Hobby, said the union has found “concerted efforts” by hardliners to infiltrate Birmingham schools, and that it was working with 30 of its members in 12 schools and had “serious concerns” about some of them.[63]

Birmingham City Council

Sir Albert Bore, the leader of Birmingham City Council, called the original Trojan Horse letter "defamatory" and "hugely difficult to investigate" and offered protection to the whistleblower if they would come forward to help in the investigation.[64] He later said that said that the Council accepted the Ofsted findings that schools in the city were failing pupils.[9] The Council's Chief Executive, Mark Rogers, said that there was no plot, but that “new communities” had raised “legitimate questions and challenges” to the “liberal education system”.[34]

Schools

David Hughes, a trustee at Park View School, claimed that Ofsted's investigation of the school was biased, and dubbed the inspection a "witch hunt".[65] Tahir Alam, a governor at Park View School since 1997, and former chair of the education committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said that the accusations had been "motivated by anti-Muslim, anti-Islam sentiment". The Muslim Council of Britain also described the investigation as a 'witch hunt'.[17][23] Waseem Yaqub, fomer Head of Governors at Al-Hijrah school, called it "a McCarthy-style witch-hunt" and that the letter was used by councillors "to turn on [Muslims] and use Muslims as scapegoats".[66]

Political row between Home Office and Department for Education

In June 2014, there was a highly public argument between the Home Office and Department for Education ministers about the responsibility for the alleged extremism.[67][68] The Prime Minister, David Cameron, intervened, requiring that Secretary for Education Michael Gove apologise to the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism head Charles Farr for briefings critical of him appearing in The Times, and Home Secretary Theresa May to sack a close adviser, Fiona Cunningham, known to be in a relationship with Farr,[69] who was found by a Downing Street inquiry to have been the source of a negative briefing against Gove.[69][70]

See also

  • Al-Madinah School, Muslim academy investigated in 2013 over allegations of discrimination and subsequently shut down
  • Sharia patrols (London), vigilante gang convicted in 2014 of violently enforcing Islamic principles in East London

References

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