Op-Ed video: Michael Gove's project to demonise Muslims is not new

Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, is attempting to turn British Muslims into an enemy within after unveiling the government's new definition of "extremism," says Middle East Eye columnist Peter Oborne.

Amid heightened domestic tensions since the onset of Israel’s war on Gaza, Gove used his speech in the House of Commons last week to say that extremism was the advancement of a violent, hateful or intolerant ideology that aims to "negate or destroy" the rights of others, or which aims to "undermine, overturn or replace" the UK's democracy and democratic rights.

The Conservative Party politician then went on to name the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), Cage International, and Mend as three Muslim organisations that he said the government intended to "hold to account" using the new definition.

MAB and Mend both challenged Gove to repeat his remarks outside of the House of Commons where he would not be protected by parliamentary privilege.

In response to the speech, Oborne said that Gove's project to demonise Muslims was not new.

"His ideas were set out in his hugely influential book Celcius 7/7, published when Gove was a fresh-faced MP in 2006," Oborne said.

"Gove distinguished Islam from what he called Islamism, asserting that the latter was a form of "totalitarianism" hostile to western liberal values. 

"Gove's knowledge of Islamist history and theology was then, and remains, negligible," he added.

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