Will Burnham cave into right-wing attacks on Ali Milani? This a test for the new PM

Will Burnham cave into right-wing attacks on Ali Milani? This a test for the new PM

Submitted by
Peter Oborne
on
Fri, 07/24/2026 - 11:58

The new prime minister must demonstrate that he is ready to stand up to the forces of bigotry and ignorance which have shaped British politics, under both Labour and Conservatives, for a decade

Ali Milani, then British Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, poses for a photograph while canvassing in the Eastcote area of London on 7 December, 2019 (AFP)

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Former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s most significant political achievement was to split the Labour Party.

He achieved this by governing in the interests of a tiny right-wing coterie with a special expertise in the politics of personal destruction. Their sectarian vision inflicted grave and lasting damage not just on the Labour Party but also on Britain.

The Starmer faction targeted the traditional Labour left, but reserved special venom for British Muslims.

They enjoyed a unique place in Starmer’s political universe.

If politically inert, British Muslims were treated with "benign neglect", the policy regarding race relations proposed by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in a 1970 memo to late US President Richard Nixon.

If active, they were automatic objects of suspicion. They were spied on, smeared and in many cases driven out of the party altogether. 

Enoch Powell language

In a troubling and shameful documentary released in 2022, Al Jazeera exposed Labour’s "hierarchy of racism" towards black, Asian and Muslim voters. 

This strategy took Labour into ugly places. Starmer’s Labour stood down loyal and hard-working Muslim candidates such as Faiza Shaheen ahead of the 2024 election.

How Andy Burnham can win back the Muslim voters Labour has lost

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One anonymous Labour source described the resignations of Labour councillors after Starmer said Israel "had the right" to withhold power and water from Gaza in October 2023 as "shaking off the fleas".

Starmer summoned up the language of Enoch Powell, the most divisive Conservative politician of the post-war era, to warn of an "island of strangers", a phrase he later claimed to regret. 

At the heart of this strategy was a preoccupation with winning back so-called "hero voters" - former Labour voters who had switched to far right parties, above all Nigel Farage’s Reform party.

Starmer’s divisive method may have reassured certain elements of right wing media, although there is no serious evidence that it won over Reform voters.

For many Labour supporters, this amounted to an outright rejection of progressive values - and one important reason for welcoming a new Labour leader dedicated to ending the discord of the Starmer leadership.

One small sign that the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham may play a unifying role was the presence of Ali Milani, a Labour party member and political commentator, in his campaign team during the Makerfield by-election which returned him to parliament last month.

Milani, who stood against Boris Johnson in Uxbridge in the 2019 general election, has achieved a small measure of national recognition with regular TV and broadcasting roles. 

He played a major role in launching the Labour Muslim Network in 2017. This body describes itself as an "inclusive organisation which seeks to support British Muslims' engagement in the political process and with the Labour Party, based on shared values of social justice and equality." 

Milani’s role in Makerfield has given rise to speculation that he may be awarded a role in Downing Street’s digital communications team. 

A vicious campaign 

As night follows day, a campaign is now underway to stop this appointment.

Leading the campaign, it comes as no surprise, is the Spectator magazine. This week it published an article headlined "Burnham cannot allow Ali Milani near power". 

The Spectator article shows the determination of British Islamophobes to keep British Muslims away from even a whiff of political power

The article explained that "Even using Ali Milani to the extent that Burnham already has is a huge error of judgment on the new Labour leader’s part. Letting him near actual power, and all the threats a PM must tackle, would be far more serious."

The author, Andrew Gilligan, had excavated comments made by Milani as a teenager in the wake of the Al Qaeda attack on the United States in 2001. 

While stupid and indefensible, the remarks were made when Milani was a teenager. He has renounced and apologised for them many times. All of us have said and done stupid things when we were that age. It is part of the process of growing up. 

Andrew Gilligan can be a brave journalist. Twenty years ago, I helped to organise and host a dinner in his support when he was targeted by Tony Blair’s Downing Street for casting doubt on circumstances surrounding the creation of the fabricated dossier alleging that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. 

Since then, I have noted with sorrow that Gilligan has played a leading role in targeting Muslim institutions and individuals. He notably played a leading role in propagating the so-called Trojan Horse scandal, a now discredited conspiracy theory that "Islamist" Muslim teachers were plotting to take over East Birmingham schools.

More seriously, Gilligan takes issue with Milani’s opinions. He has been a critic, for example, of the Prevent Strategy.

These criticisms are, in my view, sensible. Careful students of Prevent have noted with dismay the way it has used teachers, doctors and other public sector workers as in effect state informants. 

There are legitimate concerns that Prevent has helped to create an invidious culture that turns non-violent opinions into a crime and in this way risks turning British Muslims into the enemy within. 

If Burnham has any sense, he will want intelligent critics of Prevent capable of voicing entirely legitimate Muslim concerns inside Downing Street.

Gilligan attacks comments made by Milani about the use of the term "Islamism". I would gently suggest to Gilligan that he studies the style book of the Associated Press news gathering organisation. 

He will find that it supports Milani’s general argument that the term Islamist has been badly misused and should be employed with care. 

Starmer part two?

Even if Milani gets his Downing Street job, he will be no more than a tiny cog inside an enormous machine.

Pride with a dash of prejudice: How the Spectator embraced the narrative of anti-Muslim bigotry

Read More »

The publication of the Spectator article, which echoes concerns expressed privately on the Labour right, shows the scale of the determination of British Islamophobes to keep British Muslims (unless they express officially sanctioned policy) away from even a whiff of political power.

This makes the case of Ali Milani an important point of principle for Andy Burnham as he builds his Downing Street team. 

His predecessor allowed his politics to be shaped by the toxic ideology of the far right. 

It will only be a good thing if Burnham demonstrates that he is ready to stand up to the forces of bigotry and ignorance which have shaped British politics, under both Conservative and Labour administrations, for the last ten years. 

On the other hand, if Burnham tamely takes orders from Gilligan on which Muslims he is permitted to employ inside Downing Street we can reasonably conclude that he is Keir Starmer part two.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

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