The devastating consequences of the 1960s social-liberal revolution and 1980s materialism are felt far less in Islamic family lifeRakib Ehsan
Published 29 July 2026
Rakib Ehsan’s essay is the fourth article of a six-part series on race and integration in Britain. Each day this week our writers will be examining issues relating to the black British, white British and Jewish populations, along with the role of the Church of England and a perspective from America.
Luton all too often comes under fire from those who understandably believe that multiculturalism has failed in Britain. It also happens to be where I grew up.
For a young British Muslim of Bengali ancestry, the town (which has one of the highest concentrations of Muslims in England) was not always the easiest place to live in.t
Sure, there are striking examples of integration – such as the high-quality turkey rashers and “macon” (cured smoked mutton) that are readily available substitutes for bacon in a halal full English at stylish cafés. Some are owned by Italian-Bangladeshi Muslims – cultured and entrepreneurial “twice-over” migrants who have relocated to the UK in search of greater opportunities.
But Luton has more often been seen as a byword for ethnic and religious tensions. In the early stages of the post-9/11 era, it witnessed the anti-military “Butchers of Basra” demonstrations, held during a homecoming parade for 200 soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment who had returned from Iraq.
The response was the creation of the English Defence League (EDL) by arguably the most notorious of Lutonians, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – better known as Tommy Robinson.
First-hand experience of these community tensions in the town, as I was growing up, plays a huge part in why I care about social cohesion in England as much as I do today.
After a period of relative stability – largely as a result of civic initiatives connected to institutions such as Luton Town FC, which has helped to build a degree of social trust and mutual understanding between the town’s white-British and Asian-Muslim communities – there is a sense that the town is again under significant social and cultural strain.
Luton, like other traditionally Labour-controlled parts of the country with sizeable Muslim populations, provides fertile ground for the rise of what can be called Islamopopulism.
British Muslims are a historically high-voting religious group – one which takes a keen interest in both domestic and international affairs. There is little doubt that the Israeli military response to October 7 – with Sir Keir Starmer saying that Israel had the right to cut water and power to the Gazan population – was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the many British Muslims who habitually voted Labour.
But truthfully, British Muslim disillusionment with Labour has existed for some time – especially in areas which regularly voted for the party but still faced underperforming council services, a shortage of decent social housing, and a lack of economic opportunities.
This has been compounded by growing awareness – especially among younger conservative Muslims – of the radical social liberalism that exists in the party over issues such as out-of-wedlock births, abortion, assisted dying, homosexuality, and trans rights.
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British Muslim opposition to – even hatred of – the Labour Party is fuelled by social, economic and geopolitical evaluations. It is fiercely anti-establishment and driven by a belief that mainstream party politics simply cannot deliver for British Muslims.
With the place of British Muslims in modern Britain at the forefront of national debates on demography, integration, and identity, there is a golden opportunity for British Muslims to set the tone by enriching their own democracy in the long term.
The virtues of Muslim conservatism
The UK is plagued by a variety of social and cultural ills – and in many ways, conservative Muslims are very much the last people to blame.
Our country – along with its close cultural cousin, the United States – is a global hotspot for family breakdown. Due to the social-liberal revolution of the 1960s, and the devil-take-the-hindmost materialism which took off in the 1980s, English individualism was put on steroids – with devastating consequences for the family unit and community spirit.
The institution of marriage has suffered in this era of rampant selfishness – a sacred bond which ultimately rests on a joint commitment to self-sacrifice to serve one’s spouse and nurture the next generation.
In-family care of the elderly is fast becoming a thing of the past, with millions of old people left to languish in loneliness. It is safe to say that these problems are not anywhere near as severe in the British Muslim population.
The case for direct cultural assimilation in modern Britain is not necessarily a compelling one. A weakness of Right-wing populism is obsessing over Islamic lifestyles (such as Rupert Lowe’s crusade on halal meat), while overlooking the “me-first” mentality and free-for-all overconsumption which has come to characterise much of the secularised and atomised Britain. In fact, the British Right can learn from some of the values these communities embody.
If the strength of our democracy rests on societal resilience, much inspiration can be drawn from family-oriented and law-abiding British Muslims of strong faith. But for that to happen, more British Muslims need to feel a stronger sense of responsibility to the nation where they live – not only their family and their own religious community.
The “none-of-my-business” approach from some British Muslims to social and cultural forms of decay affecting the mainstream is itself segregationist – giving the impression that they do not care about issues outside their own religious communities.
It should be of interest to more British Muslims that the UK is racking up close to 300,000 abortions a year, and that there is strong political backing to hyper-liberalise euthanasia. They should be at the heart of national efforts to defend the sanctity of life.
There also has to be a change in the mindset of many British Muslims in the spheres of politics, academia, policy, and media – the prevailing sense of grievance and victimhood that too many of them exhibit only serves to antagonise decent-hearted patriots.
Britain remains one of the best places in the world to be a Muslim – especially in terms of religious rights, economic freedoms, and legal protections.
Some might even argue that it has been overly accommodating. The point is that a more positive and co-operative approach to engaging with the mainstream would benefit the reputation of British Muslims greatly and strengthen our democracy overall.
Muslim populism
My hometown of Luton did not have local elections last May, but what unfolded in other parts of England should be a wake-up call for all those who have the town’s best collective interests at heart.
While much of the focus in the rest of England was on the anti-establishment tides of national populism in the shape of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and eco-populism in the form of Zack Polanski’s Green Party, an emergent “Islamopopulism” is going from strength to strength – making headway in major cities such as Birmingham, towns like Blackburn, and eastern London boroughs including Newham. But where will all of this lead us?
To guard against sounding alarmist, it is worth noting that modern Britain is better than other diverse European counterparts such as France and Germany when it comes to the integration of its Muslim minorities – in part due to its traditional culture of religious accommodation.
But perhaps what is more interesting is that parts of the country – including northern English towns across Lancashire and Yorkshire – are now essentially political battlegrounds between native Right-wing national populists and pro-Gaza Islamopopulists who are largely of Pakistani Muslim heritage (the most common country of origin among British Muslims).
Recent polling by JL Partners on behalf of Policy Exchange found that 65 per cent of the general public was concerned over Islamist extremism – rising to 80 per cent for those who had voted for Reform UK in the last general election.
While around one in five members of the public have an unfavourable view of Muslims, this doubles for those who voted for Reform in July 2024.
Compared to the wider public, Reform UK voters are notably more likely to place importance on their nationality, but also, crucially, their ethnic identity than the rest of the country.
Running parallel to this is the emergence of a political Muslim identity which blends loyalty to the Ummah (a global Islamic community which transcends national and ethnic differences) with Left-leaning economic views and social conservatism. Among those who are part of this religio-political milieu, Reform UK is viewed as a threat.
There is little doubt that much of the reason the Green Party’s Hannah Spencer won last February’s Gorton and Denton by-election – one of the most ethnically and religiously segregated constituencies in the country – was that Muslim voters swung behind her to not only punish Labour, but to also block Reform UK from winning the seat.
In the build-up to it, The Muslim Vote (TMV) campaign encouraged Muslim voters to vote for the Greens after Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham was blocked by Starmer’s allies from being Labour’s candidate in the by-election.
The Greens embraced the role of being the “Islamopopulist” party with relish, producing Urdu-language campaign material which associated Reform UK with anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Leaning hard into matters of foreign policy, one image in a campaign video showed Starmer with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, who has been accused of discriminating against Indian Muslim minorities under a Hindu-nationalist agenda. Another included then deputy PM David Lammy with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.
The irony of this alliance is that many of these Muslim voters and activists are proudly opposed to the social liberalism that characterises the Green Party.
While there have been conflicting views in our national political discourse on how the Israel-Gaza conflict shapes British Muslim electoral behaviour, meanwhile, Policy Exchange’s recent Understanding Islamopopulism report found that it is a relatively strong determinant of voting.
Among the more culturally “protectionist” elements of the native population, by contrast, there could even be a potential ethno-nationalist backlash.
These competing forms of communalism could blow the UK’s reputation for being a multi-faith success story into smithereens.
One could say integration is a double-edged sword. British Muslim “traditionalists” may rightly find fast-paced secularisation and rampant material individualism alienating – to the point they prefer a degree of social distance.
But with that social distance, there is a dangerous risk that some of these Islamic communities also have a desire for greater political autonomy with deleterious consequences. In a sense, to have their own religiously and culturally inspired rules and regulations – which could include how children are educated, the management of marital and business disputes, and the way public areas are organised in terms of gender segregation.
The more aggressive form of this would be this branching out and beyond their own communities – and seeking to influence and dominate mainstream systems and norms.
Common ground
To what extent can these anti-establishment forces – Right-wing national populism and pro-Gaza Islamopopulism – find common ground and be reconciled in towns like mine? How can we harness the more positive aspects of Muslim communities while warding off the dangers of Islamism?
I suspect this will not be solved by interfaith events and empty platitudes such as “diversity is our strength”. What we are referring to here are fundamentally conflicting views on culture, identity, and governance.
With the collapsing of Labour’s patronage networks meaning the party is no longer being able to bank votes through traditional faith-based authority, the Islamopopulist movement is not going anywhere. It is likely to go from strength to strength, as the relatively youthful British Muslim population becomes a larger chunk of the electorate.
It is entirely plausible that Islamopopulism will not only come in the shape of the pro-Gaza independent politicians but also wield influence within the Green Party.
It is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that a future hung Parliament could be so highly fragmented that an Islamopopulist bloc in the Commons could have the numbers to play the role of kingmaker.
While some would celebrate such a moment, for others, the sheer thought of it fills them with dread – and understandably so.
If this Islamopopulist bloc puts forward a positive, wholesome, and constructive agenda in British politics that is based on the traditional triad of family, faith, and flag, then it has the potential to enrich our democracy. And conservatives, from all walks of life, should heartily welcome this aspect of British Islam.
But if leading British Muslims continue to obsess over events in lands afar, and push for Islamically inspired regulation that impinges on the public sphere, then it will only serve to further wear down the country’s already weakening social fabric.
Dr Rakib Ehsan is the author of Beyond Grievance