Michael Gove has been urged to stop funding an interfaith charity that has received millions from the taxpayer and counts a group banned from engagement with Whitehall as one of its members.
Two members of the Inter Faith Network have written to the Communities Secretary asking him to stop funding the organisation.
The IFN, founded in 1987, is a charity that exists to “make better known and understood the teachings, traditions and practices of the different faith communities in the UK” and to build “good relations between people of different faiths”.
According to the Department for Levelling Up’s annual accounts, the charity has received £3,858,000 from the Government since 2010.
Earlier this month, The Telegraph reported that officials within Mr Gove’s department were concerned about the IFN’s failure to explicitly condemn Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7.
Ban on engagement
The IFN counts the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) among its membership, despite the group being subject to a government-wide ban on engagement dating to 2009.
Gordon Brown cut ties with the council in that year after its then deputy secretary-general signed the Istanbul Declaration, which was widely interpreted as calling for attacks on Royal Navy vessels enforcing a UN weapons blockade on Hamas-run Gaza. While relations were temporarily restored in 2010, the Tories reintroduced the boycott when they came to power.
Now, The Telegraph can reveal that two member bodies of the IFN wrote to Mr Gove in April urging him to cease funding for the network.
In a letter sent on April 28, the Interfaith Alliance UK – a charity which works to promote literacy about religious beliefs and community cohesion – said the Government should stop funding the network “until serious and longstanding issues” are addressed.
On April 25, another IFN member organisation, Scriptural Reasoning, had written to Mr Gove saying that the IFN had “received many hundreds of thousands of pounds of public funds”, which would have delivered “far better value for money had it been given to multiple small local faith-based and interfaith projects”.
Muhammad Al-Hussaini, a senior lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, who is on the board of Scriptural Reasoning, told The Telegraph that he had been raising concerns for years about the IFN’s membership including bodies such as the MCB.
A government source told The Telegraph that “serious concerns” had been raised about the IFN and added: “We are exploring all options at our disposal to make sure taxpayer money only goes to organisations that uphold British values.”
Denunciations of terrorism
In a response to The Telegraph, IFN’s lawyers said the organisation took care in regard to extremism and had made “repeated denunciations across the years of terrorism – in particular that which is based on selective or manipulative use of religious teaching”.
Their statement said that the network brought “organisations together in respectful dialogue, promoting understanding of the faiths and between the faiths and cooperation on social issues for the benefit of all”.
It continued: “Whether government funding would be better spent by funding small, local inter faith organisations such as those controlled by Dr Al-Hussaini is, of course, a matter of opinion.
“Based on responses to regular surveys and also a mailing of members earlier this year (which produced numerous testimonies to the importance of its work) IFN doubts that its local inter faith organisation members – while no doubt welcoming more funding for their own important work – would agree.
“You are no doubt aware that government departments take great care in assessing organisations to which they provide funding. IFN has received government funding throughout the long period of Dr Al-Hussaini’s vocal campaign against it, and has throughout been subject to the relevant department’s monitoring and assessment process.”
On the MCB, the lawyers said: “IFN has nearly 200 organisations in membership. It is not responsible for the acts or omissions of those members. However, it has a membership policy which would enable it to expel organisations that promote extremism and so act contrary to the purposes for which IFN exists.”
No support for extremism
The lawyers said that the IFN did not fund the MCB or any other member and that it was not aware of any policy from the group supporting extremism.
“It has been our client’s understanding that the individual who is said to have signed the Istanbul Declaration did so without approval of the MCB as an institution and that he has not been involved with the MCB for many years,” they added.
The MCB said: “[We have] never endorsed the declaration and we specifically reject any notion that we endorse an attack on the Royal Navy. That position was acknowledged by the same Gordon Brown government in 2010 when relations were restored.”
Zara Mohammed, the secretary general of the MCB, said: “We uphold British values by being a democratic organisation, encouraging our communities to engage with the democratic process, obey the rule of law, and champion mutual respect and tolerance by coming together through interfaith initiatives.
“We all would like to know exactly what British values justify excluding us from these forums to seek the common good, and to deny Muslims equal rights.”
A Department for Levelling Up spokesman said: “All funded organisations are monitored by the department and subject to internal finance and due diligence processes.”
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
