Islamic schools cleared by watchdog

The charity watchdog today cleared two Islamic schools which the Tories had accused of being “front” organisations for extremists.

There was no evidence that the centres run by the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation had links to an extreme Muslim group, the Charity Commission said. The ruling is a blow to David Cameron, who last year accused Gordon Brown’s government of “funding extremists” by giving grants to the schools in Haringey and Slough.

In the Commons, Mr Cameron described the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation charity as “a front” for Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Evening Standard, 7 June 2010


Not only a blow Cameron but also to Andrew Gilligan, whose witch-hunting article in the Sunday Telegraph provided the basis for the Tories’ now discredited claims. You do wonder what more Gilligan has to do before his reputation as a journalist is completely destroyed.