Shadow justice minister Nick Timothy is standing by claims that a mass Islamic prayer in Trafalgar Square was “a declaration of domination” that should never be repeated.
In a post on X, Timothy, a Christian, said the prayer, known as the adhan, features “explicit repudiation” of Christianity and other faiths and had no place in Trafalgar Square, which is meant to be a place of shared national unity.
He further claimed that by proclaiming Islamic "domination", the event was also divisive.
His comments were condemned by figures from Labour, the SNP and the Tory left among others.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Timothy should be sacked from the shadow cabinet: “She [Tory leader Kemi Badenoch] should denounce his comments and she should sack him.” Badenoch responded that Timothy was protecting “British values”.
Starmer added in a message posted to X that he was “proud that in Trafalgar Square we celebrate all faiths”, a likely reference to events held by other faiths at the London landmark.
The PM was backed by former SNP First Minister, Humza Yousaf, who accused Timothy of "clear anti-Muslim hatred".
Yousaf said on X, “Nick Timothy should have no place in politics, let alone his party's front bench.”
Meanwhile, Dominic Grieve, a former Attorney General for the Conservatives, and one of the key drafters of the controversial new 'anti-Muslim hostility' definition, also took issue with Timothy.
"There have been prayers and hymns, chants and religious events performed there in the past. If such an event 'shouldn't happen again' it raises the question of whether this is to apply to all religious events or just to Muslim ones … If just to Muslims then it is an act of discrimination against them without any lawful basis. To achieve it you would have to enact discriminatory legislation targeted at Muslims. Is this what Nick Timothy is advocating?”
Timothy defended his original post, accusing his critics of "wilful misunderstanding". He said that he was not objecting to the religious festivals of different faiths taking place at Trafalgar Square, but to the specific nature of this event.
“The point [is not] that Muslims gathered on Trafalgar Square. The point is that mass ritual prayer in public - in this case next to a church - is an act of domination. So is the public call of the Adhan, which explicitly denies other religions including Christianity. That is the difference," he said.
Timothy was supported, not only by his party leader, but by Reform leader Nigel Farage.
"What we witnessed in London at the historic Trafalgar Square, in a country built on Judeo-Christian values, was a group of people attempting dominance over our capital city and our culture," he said.
"We are not going to surrender everything that was built over centuries and defended at great cost in two world wars for us to be a free, independent nation. The British people will not put up with this any longer — simple as."
Baroness Foster, former leader of the DUP, also spoke up in support of his comments.
On X she called the event “an affront to the British public”, claiming that it was “about coercion and control”: “Having been brought up in a sectarian City .. I have to say this push to impose Islam on everyone else is frankly unacceptable.. I thought we’d finished with all of that .. but this has now become untenable .. So what are we going to do about it !!!”
