In the wake of the Casey report, communities secretary Sajid Javid has proposed that all public office holders take an oath of allegiance to British values:
The oath could include phrases such as “tolerating the views of others even if you disagree with them”, as well as “believing in freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from abuse … a belief in equality, democracy, and the democratic process” and “respect for the law, even if you think the law is an ass”.
The objections to this seem numerous: there’s no guarantee people will keep their oath, the very idea of such an oath seems rather un-British, these important values are not specifically British but universal and liberal, and the ‘tolerance’ clause potentially contradicts the other clauses. There would be no (perceived) place for this oath if it wasn’t the case that some people’s views seem completely intolerable. Here ‘King of Dawah’ (in uncharacteristically serious mode) reminds Sajid Javid of one example.
Here is the report linked to by Sunny Hundal – it describes how Syed Muzaffar Shah Qadri, a hate preacher banned from preaching in Pakistan, is currently on a speaking tour in Britain, despite having praised Mumtaz Qadri, the murderer of Salman Taseer.
