How West Midlands Police undermines community cohesion

There is an important op-ed in today’s Times by Dean Godson on the latest developments in the Undercover Mosque saga, the sorry tale of the decision by West Midlands Police to refer Channel 4 to Ofcom for revealing the extremist ideology being propagated in a Birmingham Mosque. Godson reveals that Paul Goodman, the shadow Communities minister, has written to the government to ask if any foreign government brought pressure to bear over the programme.

West Midlands Police’s actions set a dangerous precedent. As Godson writes,

“By referring this matter to Ofcom, West Midlands Police showed that its preferred associates in the Muslim community are Wahhabites and assorted radical Islamists rather than the nonsectarian Muslim mainstream. It is a choice that is profoundly demoralising for genuine moderates and will ultimately undermine, rather than strengthen the very community cohesion that the force seeks."