The inter-communal violence and disturbances that have occurred in Leicester between Hindus and Muslims are something that the wider community should be concerned about. It’s not good for any society to have various religious groups at each others throats and there’s always the worrying possibility that localised disorder like this can grow and spread into other areas.

In Britain and in British history we have the twin spectres of the Northern Irish Troubles of the 20^th century and the Gordon Riots in the 18^th century, among others, to act as testament to what happens when politicised religious tensions break out into violence. The Troubles took the lives of thousands of people over a conflict that lasted decades and the Gordon Riots, which started in part over fears among some Protestants that a Catholic emancipation bill would bring back, via a back door, the hated idea of absolute monarchy, caused the deaths, mostly from military action against the rioters, of 300-500 people over the course of just one week.

Many of us who are ordinary British subjects have our own views on the subject of the Leicester disturbances and these views differ, sometimes greatly, from some of the mainstream media and political narratives about the situation. For example these disturbances did not come out of the blue following a cricket match, as the MSM reported, but have been brewing for a long long time fuelled by low level violence and intimidation and a tornado of various rumours about which community did what to whom.

However I do not believe, based on the various accounts that I’ve seen since this trouble began, that the Hindu community is entirely to blame for the Leicester conflict. Although there have been allegations of Hindu extremists being behind the troubles, the more visible of those who could be described as extreme and who are exploiting the Leicester troubles are Muslims. If there are Hindu extremists involved in the Leicester disturbances then they seem to be keeping a pretty low profile when compared to the Islamic rabble-rousers.

As a private citizen I can hold and express opinions that others cannot because of the nature of their job. I’ve come to the conclusion that the Leicester disturbances are not six of one and half a dozen of the other, but instead have been exacerbated by certain Islamic activists who are stirring the shit big time. However my freedom to speak my views on this might not apply to others such as members of parliament. They have a duty to not take obvious sides in highly controversial out of constituency cases or to ignore clear evidence that situations such as the Leicester disturbances are not the fault of just one side. MP’s should in my view also not act as mouthpieces for certain community groups especially when it is likely that those groups are of such a nature that they might be in a position  to deliver bloc votes to MP’s in order to keep them in office. Members of Parliament in particular with regards to situations such as those that exist in Leicester should be acting to reduce tension and not being so biased that they are likely to increase tension.

A good example of an MP who has taken sides and decided that she will support Islamic groups rather than the Hindus of Leicester and elsewhere, or the pursuit of calm in general is Kim Leadbetter the MP for Batley and Spen and sister of the late tragically murdered MP Jo Cox. Kim Leadbetter, who like a few other Labour MP’s depends on the bloc votes of Muslims to keep her seat, has decided to stick her oar into the subject of the Leicester disturbances even though these disturbances are not in any way connected to her constituency. This information was brought to light by Nick Timothy, a former adviser to ex-Prime Minister Theresa May in a Tweet published on the 18^th November of this year. The Tweet contains a copy of a letter said to have been sent to the Home Secretary Suella Braverman by Ms Leadbetter.

Here’s a copy of the letter as shown by Mr Timothy:

Mr Timothy said that the letter was showing how Kim Leadbetter was taking a ‘one sided and pre-judged position on the communal violence in Leicester’. I must admit that it is difficult to disagree with Mr Timothy on this point. As you can see from the letter, this is a very one sided position for Kim Leadbetter to take on this issue. It assumes that there are extremist Hindus behind the unrest when it’s not at all clear at this point whether such extremist Hindu groups were involved and if they were then how much influence, if any, have these alleged extremist actors had on the situation in Leicester?

I’ve been following this worrying situation in Leicester and whilst I recognise that there have been good and decent Muslims, including at least one Iman, who have attempted to calm tensions and protect Hindus and their property, there have also been Muslim rabble-rousers who have been very active and visible in fomenting discord against Hindus. Kim Leadbetter’s letter mentions none of this. The letter, which seems to have been instigated by the Indian Muslim Welfare Society of Batley and Spen puts all the blame for the disturbances on Leicester’s Hindus and the alleged involvement of Hindu extremists.

This letter by Kim Leadbetter gives off a worrying smell of Islamopandering which is when an entity or an individual comes out in full support of Islamic interests possibly for either political or other reasons and ends up throwing concepts like balance out of the window. Her letter to the Home Secretary is blatantly biased towards Islamic interests, causes and viewpoints and doesn’t acknowledge the question as to whether blame for the Leicester troubles is more nuanced and diffuse than the Hindu extremist bogeyman story served up by Islamic groups in Batley and Spen.

Kim Leadbetter’s communication with the Home Secretary gives the distinct impression that she is disinterested in stepping up and voicing any criticism of Islam or Islamic groups with the possible reasoning for this being that Ms Leadbetter’s position as MP for Batley and Spen depends on bloc votes from the local Islamic community. This impression is further solidified when you take into account how she has dealt with the scandal of a local teacher who has been hounded from his profession and who now has to live in secrecy and fear because he used materials in a lesson that some Muslims disagreed with. I don’t recall Ms Leadbetter getting on her high horse about this scandalous situation as she has over the Leicester communal disturbances which is something that Mr Timothy has also pointed out.

Although Ms Leadbetter may not have intended it, this letter gives the worryingly strong impression that she will speak up for Islamic interests and unquestioningly relay whines from Islamic groups about stuff that is bugger all to do with her and her constituency, to the expense of dealing with matters that affect her constituency as a whole. It gives a terrible impression as to how the Labour Party manage politics in the Batley and Spen constituency. The fact that this one sided and unhelpful letter could be sent by a Labour MP to the Home Office and as far as I can find, elicit no negative comment from either the Labour Party itself or Sir Keir Starmer the Labour leader, doesn’t fill me with confidence that a future Labour government would treat all Britons equally.   Such conduct gives me and possibly  may give other British voters, of all races and faiths, the impression that if the chips were down Labour would side with their core vote of adherents to Islam and their concerns rather than the concerns of other communities or the wider nation. That’s not a good way to govern or manage a society that needs to be more cohesive.

Kim Leadbetter could have voiced an opinion on the Leicester situation and been a lot less one sided on the matter. She could and I believe should have made a generic call for calm and accepting that blame might not all fall to one side. Such an intervention, even though it is regarding a matter outside of her constituency, would have been much more acceptable to those of us who have followed the story of the Leicester disturbances and would not have given the impression that Kim Leadbetter merely asks ‘how high’ when local Islamic groups ask her to jump.