Birmingham Schools

Lord Pearson of Rannoch Excerpts

Monday 9th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)]

My Lords—

[Lord Bew (CB)]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Morris of Yardley]

My Lords—

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

My Lords—

[Baroness Hussein-Ece]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Hussein-Ece]

My Lords—

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

My Lords—

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

Perhaps we could hear from the noble Lord, Lord Pearson.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness. Does the noble Lord agree that this activity does not emulate the Trojan horse so much as follow the violent Muslim tenet of al-hijrah, whereby the faithful are instructed to emulate the Prophet after he became established in Medina and sent into exile or slaughtered his generous hosts who did not join his new religion? In this respect, is it not very worrying that one of the schools in question is actually called the al-Hijrah School? If I understood the noble Lord to say that the Government are going to look into this problem elsewhere, will he make sure that they look at least at Blackburn, Bradford, Burnley, Tower Hamlets, Leicester, Dewsbury and Huddersfield?

[Lord Nash]

My Lords, I am sure you will agree that our society is greatly enriched by the Muslim population in this country, the vast majority of whom are law-abiding and substantial contributors to our way of life.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

Hear, hear.

[Lord Nash]

The parents, mostly Muslim, who have sent their children to these schools expect them to receive a secular education that prepares them for life in modern Britain and an education that opens doors rather than closes them, as the Secretary of State said. That is not what happened here. The al-Hijrah school is in the process of installing an IEB.

By one of those serendipitous moments, only yesterday I was told the story of a lady who was walking through an estate in south London, not far from here, when she was mugged. A young Muslim schoolgirl set about the mugger and saw him off, so the lady thanked her and they went on their way. Three days later, the lady met this young Muslim schoolgirl again and said, “You must be a hero in your school”, but she said, “No, I haven’t told anybody about this”. The lady then wrote to the school and told the head about it. To me, that is a wonderful example of the beauty of the Muslim faith and its belief in helping others, and in modesty.