British Muslims Prepare to Leave UK after Johnson Wins Election
Among them is the head of a Muslim charity, which provides food parcels for poor people in Manchester, after saying he was scared for the ‘future of his children’. Manzoor Ali said: “I’m scared for my personal safety, I worry about my children’s future.”
It comes after the prime minister was accused of ‘Islamophobia and racism’ following a number of controversial comments he made in the past, including his remarks in a 2005 Spectator article in which he claimed it was only ‘natural’ for the public to be scared of Islam.
Johnson also received a considerable degree of criticism for comparing Muslim women to ‘letterboxes and bank robbers’ in a column for the Telegraph last year. The prime minister has insisted his comments were taken out of context and he was defending the right of Muslim women to wear what they like.
During the election campaign he also apologized for Islamophobia in the Conservative party, after a number of candidates shared Islamophobic posts by Tommy Robinson.
Asked if he would apologize for Islamophobia in his party, he said: “Of course, and for all the hurt and offence that has been caused – of course we do.
“And all that is intolerable and it’s so important as a country that we don’t allow that kind of thing and that’s why we’re going to have the independent inquiry.”
However, after Johnson’s Conservatives won a landslide in the election on December 12, Manzoor Ali, who runs the Barakah Food Aid charity in Greater Manchester, said that his family have given him their blessing to move to a place that would be safe and secure for them.
Ali told Metro.co.uk: “My charity has been going on for 10 years, we’ve helped people from all walks of life, including former soldiers and white working class English people. But I’m scared for my personal safety, I worry about my children’s future.”
Ali went on to accuse the prime minister of ‘Islamophobia and racism’ because of his past remarks and ‘failure to root out Islamophobia in his party’.
He added that Britain was his home and he didn’t know where else to go, but his family are in agreement that they should move to ensure their safety. The father of three said New Zealand appealed to him, given the humane and compassionate manner in which the prime minister of the country, Jacinda Ardern handled the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings in which 51 people were killed by a far-right terrorist.
His sentiments were echoed by Eidan, 38, an IT consultant from North London who said she was ‘very scared’ following the result of the election, especially after being assaulted previously, with her headscarf ripped off and people calling her a ‘terrorist’ in public in recent years.
She fears the result will embolden ‘racists and islamophobes’.
Eidan told Metro.co.uk: “I’ve actively started looking for jobs elsewhere, maybe Turkey, maybe Pakistan. ‘I’m very very scared. My niece who is a doctor, she has started saying, “I don’t know if this is the right country for us”.
She also said she spoke to her nephew in Canada to find out if “conditions were better for Muslims there”, to which she says he told her “it was a lot better than in the UK”.
Eidan said she found it heartbreaking she couldn’t call London home, as she does not know where else she can call home.
