BRITISH FOREIGN secretary William Hague has rejected charges that prime minister David Cameron gave a propaganda coup to the far right by saying that multiculturalism had failed in the United Kingdom as thousands of far-right demonstrators took to the streets in Luton to condemn Islam’s influence in British life.
In a speech on Saturday in Munich, Mr Cameron condemned Islamic “preachers of hate” operating in Britain, saying that it was clear that many of the British-born Muslims responsible for the 2007 Tube and bus bombings in London had taken their “radical beliefs to the next level by embracing violence” because they had been influenced by non-violent extremists.
“Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream. We have failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong. We have even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run counter to our values.
“So when a white person holds objectionable views – racism, for example – we rightly condemn them. But when equally unacceptable views or practices have come from someone who isn’t white, we’ve been too cautious, frankly even fearful, to stand up to them,” Mr Cameron told an international security conference in Munich.
The speech was delivered just as the town centre in Luton, near London, was brought to a halt by a march organised by the English Defence League, which attracted up to 3,000 white supporters, including some from the Continent – though the attendance was considerably below the organisers’ predictions.
More than 1,000 police, many drawn from forces outside Bedfordshire, were involved in policing the demonstration, which saw taunting between the EDL, which has become significantly more prominent in recent months, and up to 1,000 Unite Against Fascism supporters, who blocked the local railway station in a bid to stop protesters arriving.
Labour MP Sadiq Khan to the fury of some Conservatives, accused the prime minister of having handed a propaganda coup to the far-right group, though more senior Labour figures, notably the shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, were subsequently more circumspect in their criticisms of Mr Cameron.
“If you are making a speech on the same day as the EDL are marching [then] he should have been rather more careful in a clear and unequivocal condemnation of the EDL and their actions on that particular day,” said Mr Alexander, pointing out that Tony Blair had made speeches that were similar in tone to Mr Cameron during his time in Downing Street.
However, Mr Hague defended Mr Cameron’s speech and its timing, saying: “That doesn’t have to be rescheduled because some people have chosen to march down a street that particular day. This is a speech that will endure over the months and years, long after people have forgotten what was going on that particular Saturday afternoon.”
Labour MP Chuka Umunna said Mr Cameron had given “quite a balanced speech”, bar failing to emphasise that integration “is a two-way street. We do have some communities that some would claim need to better integrate with the rest of the population. But equally I think it’s imperative and inherent on the rest of us to help that process along as well. Integration is not the same as assimilation. We’re not talking about everybody being the same, what we’re talking about is people mixing and living in harmony.”