For the first time, I am grateful to Zack Polanski. For, in branding Keir Starmer ‘Islamophobic’ simply for criticising Mothin Ali, he has shown just how slippery and despotic that word is. He has confirmed what most decent folk have long suspected – that accusations of ‘Islamophobia’ are a cynical ruse to shut down entirely legitimate public discussion.

Starmer said not one bigoted word about Ali, the deputy leader of the Green party. Or about Islam. He didn’t diss the Koran or crack a gag about Muhammad. (All of which he should be at liberty to do, of course.) All he said is that he was ‘shocked’ to see Ali at a pro-Tehran gathering in London on Saturday. 

Polanski slammed Starmer’s ‘blatant Islamophobia’. What gibberish. What a lowlife attempt to shame a man for expressing a perfectly normal view. Starmer merely criticised a politician. And rightly, too. That demo was a disgrace. All good people were ‘shocked’ to see such an orgy of bigotry and tyrant brown-nosing on the streets of London – and to see the deputy leader of a mainstream party in attendance.

We are browbeaten into turning a blind eye to theocratic sycophancy on our streets

We are browbeaten into turning a blind eye to theocratic sycophancy on our streets

In demonising Sir........

© The Spectator