Labour MP Sadiq Khan has declared his candidacy for mayor of London.
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The reason some of the people are "uncomfortable" is undoubtedly going to be a level of xenophobia. But the majority, I believe, are subconsciously internalising the public performances of Muslim politicians in the United Kingdom and are rightly concerned by them.
Critics might point to the fact that UKIPers, across the board according to the poll, are less "progressive," leading the field in discomfort for the idea of a female mayor (12 percent), a homosexual mayor (26 percent) and an ethnic minority mayor (41 percent). Well, yes, UKIP is a party of traditionalists and conservatives first and libertarians second. I don't think anyone should try to hide from that or try to explain it away. But the discomfort about a Muslim mayor (73 percent) requires some deeper thought.
Sayeeda
Hussain Warsi (left) resigned from Prime Minister David Cameron's
cabinet, calling his Israel policy "morally indefensible." Former Tower
Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman (center) fell due to corruption charges. MEP
Amjad Bashir (right) was kicked out of UKIP for "grave" financial
irregularities.
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"But wait! What about Syed Kamall? Sajid Javid? Khalid Mahmood? Rehman Chishti?" I hear you ask.
Quite. But what about Humza Yousaf, Rushanara Ali, Shabana Mahmood, and Yasmin Qureshi?
By and large, Muslim politicians in the UK tend to be far more ... divisive, to be polite. There are several camps. Some, like Lutfur Rahman and Baroness Warsi, have Islamist links. Some have questionable backgrounds, such as the defence of Louis Farrakhan or Guantanamo Bay detainees (Sadiq Khan), and one let UKIP down in a big way, while being investigated for improper behaviour (Amjad Bashir).
Humza
Yousaf (left), a member of the Scottish parliament, was previously
media spokesman for a radical Islamist charity. Labour MPs Shabana
Mahmood (center) and Yasmin Qureshi (right) are more concerned with
boycotting Israel than serving their constituents.
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Politicians like Ali, Mahmood, and Qureshi are united by their demonisation of Israel and tolerance of extremism.
And Tory-elected officials like Kamall, Javid, and Chishti are precisely why Conservative voters in London are more comfortable (39 percent against) with a Muslim mayor. One of their leading candidates is a practicing Muslim – they'd have to be.
Perhaps the argument can be made that UKIP voters are not xenophobic or anti-Muslim – although one might argue they are more likely to be anti-Islam, and that's a discussion for another time – but rather that they have simply been paying attention.
When you couple the backgrounds of a lot of leading Muslim politicians in Britain with the more objective, black-and-white worldview that UKIP voters have, they are naturally predetermined to be more sceptical.
You might argue that UKIP voters shouldn't see things in such a clear-cut way and shouldn't attribute the failings of one Muslim politician to others. There are evident trends, similarities, and commonalities, but that contention would be a decent compromise approach.
Unfortunately, while there are a handful of decent Muslim politicians in Britain, I can't help but think that the highest-profile ones have let people with my name and background down. It's no different than UKIPers being sceptical of a Conservative mayor, or Labour being sceptical of a Tory one.
Maybe I should run for London mayor on a UKIP ticket? Or maybe not.
Raheem Kassam is a fellow at the Middle East Forum and editor-in-chief of Breitbart London
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