Why do the Conservatives have a problem with Muslims praying in public?

March 18, 2026·41 min·3 clips

Keir Starmer invokes Tommy Robinson to attack Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy over Muslims praying in Trafalgar Square.

The episode opens with Keir Starmer's parliamentary attack on Nick Timothy, the Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary, who posted that mass ritual prayer in Trafalgar Square during Ramadan was 'an act of domination.' Starmer invoked Tommy Robinson's own praise for Timothy to argue the Conservative Party has radicalised. The hosts explain the event was the Ramadan Tent Project's open Iftar, attended by around 3,000 people including Mayor Sadiq Khan, and designed to be inclusive of all faiths. Tommy Robinson's audio is played, in which he credits his supporters with shifting the Overton window enough for a Conservative MP to make such a statement. The hosts note that Trafalgar Square has hosted Sikh, Jewish, Hindu, and Christian events without similar objections, and question why Muslim prayer specifically drew Timothy's condemnation. They trace a pattern of anti-Muslim sentiment in Conservative and broader right-wing politics: Boris Johnson's letterbox column, Suella Braverman claiming Islamists ran the country, Lee Anderson saying they controlled the London mayor, and Kemi Badenoch attributing the Greens' Gorton and Denton by-election win to a sectarian Muslim bloc vote. The hosts debate whether Timothy is conflating Islam with Islamism, concluding he appears to be targeting Islam itself, specifically the Adhan's declaration that there is no God but Allah. They compare the British model of multiculturalism with French laïcité, arguing that selective application of secularism only to Muslims would be unlawful religious discrimination and has historically fuelled radicalisation in France. The hosts discuss how Kemi Badenoch has not disavowed Timothy and has disputed the concept of Islamophobia, framing this as part of a systematic effort to present ordinary Muslim civic life as threatening. They raise the great replacement theory as an increasingly mainstream idea on the online right, warning politicians to be careful about the flames they fan. The Greens' Gorton and Denton campaign is criticised for running separate Urdu-language messaging featuring Narendra Modi alongside Keir Starmer, targeting Muslim voters on foreign policy rather than local issues. The episode then shifts to a major investigation by Alan Rusbridger, former Guardian editor, into GB News. Rusbridger commissioned 20 journalists from across the political spectrum to review 15 hours of GB News output against specific Ofcom standards, scoring compliance from zero to five. The overall score was 1.5 out of 5. Rusbridger explains that Ofcom is complaint-driven and GB News's loyal Reform-sympathetic audience never complains, leaving the regulator without material to act on. He gives the example of presenter Matt Goodwin devoting an entire programme to anti-Muslim immigration topics four days before declaring himself the Reform Party candidate in Gorton and Denton. He also describes presenter Bev Turner's unchallenged interview with Donald Trump, in which she called his false statements 'truth bombs,' with Ofcom dismissing 32 complaints by pointing to a late-night rebuttal segment. Andrew Neil, who founded GB News, is quoted saying the station has become Reform TV. Rusbridger argues Ofcom has shifted its mindset from impartiality to freedom of expression, and that the regulator is simply not fit for purpose in this area. The hosts draw a parallel with water regulation, arguing Britain is failing at regulation broadly, and suggest Keir Starmer should direct the culture secretary or a Commons select committee to investigate.

As heard by us

A sharp political row that turns a public prayer into a wider question of judgment and party direction.

Nick Timothy's comments about Muslims praying together in Trafalgar Square are treated as a pointed test of how far the Conservatives have shifted, and The News Agents give the row the kind of political framing it needs.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Listen for the argument behind the outrage.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The News Agents