1 When Anti-Islamic Protest Comes to Town: Political Responses to The

CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by White Rose E-theses Online When Anti-Islamic Protest Comes to Town: Political Responses to the English Defence League William Edward Charles Allchorn Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Leeds School of Politics and International Studies September 2016 1 Declaration The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his/her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of William Edward Charles Allchorn to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2016 The University of Leeds and William Edward Charles Allchorn. 2 Contents List of Abbreviations and Acronyms List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Abstract Chapter 1: Introduction and Thesis Structure P.11 1.1 Background: Anti-Islamic Activism and the UK Far-right 1.2 Lacuna: EDL Studies and Political Responses 1.3 Thesis’ Contribution: Main Empirical and Theoretical Aims 1.4 Thesis Structure and Chapterisation Chapter 2: Literature Review - Understanding the English Defence League and Responses to it P.21 2.1: Introduction 2.2: Interpreting the EDL - Far-right, Football Hooligan or Sui Generis? 2.3: From Causes to Consequences - The EDL ‘Response’ Literature 2.4: Conclusion Chapter 3: Methodology – How to Study Political Responses to the EDL and Why? P.51 3.1: Introduction 3.2: Political Responses towards the EDL: The Social-Scientific, Philosophical and Normative Underpinnings of the Project 3.3: Research Methods I - Qualitative versus Quantitative Approaches 3.4: Research Methods II - Research Techniques and Practical Considerations 3.5: Conclusion Chapter 4: Birmingham – Early Responses to Anti-Islamic Protest P.69 4.1: Introduction 4.2: Context 4.3: Birmingham’s First EDL Demonstrations (4th July, 8th August and 5th September 2009) 4.4: Birmingham’s Second Major EDL Demonstration (17th October 2011) 4.5: Birmingham’s Third Major EDL Demonstration (20th July 2013) 4.6: Birmingham’s Fourth Major EDL Demonstration (10th October 2014) 4.7: Conclusion 3 Chapter 5: Bradford and Keighley – Responses to Anti-Islamic Protest in West Yorkshire P.97 5.1: Introduction 5.2: Bradford – A ‘Post-Riots’ Response a) Context b) Bradford’s First EDL Demonstration (28th August 2010) c) Bradford’s Second EDL Demonstration (12th October 2013) 5.3: Keighley – Balancing Tensions, Regaining Trust a) Introduction b) Context c) Keighley EDL Demonstration (4th August 2012) 5.4: Conclusion Chapter 6: Leicester – ‘Somewhere near the Clock Tower’ P.127 6.1: Introduction 6.2: Context 6.3: Leicester’s First EDL Demonstration (9th October 2010) 6.4: Leicester’s Second EDL Demonstration (4th February 2012) 6.5: Leicester’s Third EDL Demonstration (1st June 2013) 6.6: Conclusion Chapter 7: Luton – ‘Where it all began’ P.149 7.1: Introduction 7.2: Context 7.3: Luton’s First English Defence League Demonstration (5th February 2011) 7.4: Luton’s Second EDL Demonstration (5th May 2012) 7.5: Luton’s Third EDL Demonstration (22nd November 2014) 7.6: Conclusion Chapter 8: Tower Hamlets - Anti-Islamic Protest in the East End of London P.173 8.1: Introduction 8.2: Context 8.3: Tower Hamlets’ First EDL Demonstrations (27th June 2009 and 20th June 2010) 8.4: Tower Hamlets’ Second EDL Demonstration (3rd September 2011) 8.5: Tower Hamlets’ Third EDL Demonstration (9th September 2013) 8.6: Conclusion 4 Chapter 9: Conclusion - National Responses and Beyond P.199 9.1: Introduction 9.2: Context - ‘Clean-hands’ beyond the BNP? National Political Responses to the English Defence League 9.3: Key Findings and Contributions - From Causes to Consequences 9.4: Lessons and Policy Recommendations 9.5: Future Avenues of Research – Far-right Protest and Responses to it 9.6: Concluding Remarks: Towards an ‘Inclusivist Turn’? Appendix A: Summary of Interview Findings P.219 Appendix B: List of Interviewees P.229 Bibliography P.231 5 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms BNP = British National Party BUF = British Union of Fascists CCCPG = Community Cohesion Contingency Planning Group CONTEST = UK Government’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy CSE = Child Sexual Exploitation DCLG = Department of Communities and Local Government EDL = English Defence League HMIC = Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies LDDC = London Docklands Development Cooperation MP = Members of Parliament MEP = Member of European Parliament NF = National Front REP = Republikaner Party SFC = Structured Focused Comparison Tell MAMA = Tell Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks UAF = Unite Against Fascism UPL = United People of Luton 6 List of Tables and Figures Fig 3.1: Causal Model of Politician’s EDL Responses Fig 3.2: Political Affiliation of Interviewees Fig 3.3: Interview Type Fig 3.4: Political Composition: Local Areas under Study Vs. Interviewees Fig 4.1: Birmingham’s Total EDL Demonstrators and Arrest Count, July 2009 - October 2014 Fig 7.1: Luton’s Total EDL Demonstrators and Arrest Count, April 2009 – November 2014 Fig A.1: Exclusionary Vs. Inclusionary Responses Fig A.2: Political Responses to the EDL - All Fig A.3: Response Rationales and Motivations Fig A.4: Response Roles 7 Acknowledgements I would like to thank here a number of people who have helped and supported me throughout my PhD. First, I would like to thank my friends and family who have offered me a great deal of emotional and financial support over the past few years. In particular, I would like to thank my parents, sister and fiancée who have supported me along my academic journey. In the words of my principal supervisor, they have helped me ‘keep the faith’. I would also like to thank the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds. I was enormously grateful to receive the POLIS Research Scholarship. This has enabled me to devote considerable time and attention to my PhD studies. I would also like to thank PhD colleagues and members of staff who have provided new angles and perspectives on the topic of political responses as well as departmental support staff for responding to any administrative queries I’ve had during the course of my research studies. Thirdly, I would like to thank all thirty-four local politicians and six behind-the- scenes policymakers who agreed to participate in the project. Their insights and accounts have helped deepen and expand the horizons of my PhD far beyond what I had originally imagined. I express the greatest of gratitude for their willingness to take time out of their busy schedules and for sharing with me their experiences of responding to EDL protest. Finally, and by no means least, I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Stuart McAnulla and Dr Richard Hayton, for their expert guidance, support and mentoring throughout my PhD. Their comments, insights and willingness to look over early drafts of this thesis have played no small role in making it the sharp and coherent document you see before you. Stuart and Richard have been approachable and rigorous as well as generous with their time, which is all I could ever wish for in a supervisory team. 8 Abstract Seven years since its formation, scant academic attention has been paid to how politicians and policymakers have responded to the English Defence League. While a small and fragmented literature has charted some governmental, policing and civil society responses to this form of anti-Islamic protest, little is known about how UK politicians and policymakers have responded to the group where the EDL has demonstrated the most: at the local level. This study aims to address this lacuna. Using semi-structured elite interviews with thirty-four Members of Parliament and local Councillors as well as six behind-the-scenes policy officials, this thesis maps the types of responses issued by local politicians in Birmingham, Bradford, Leicester, Luton and Tower Hamlets. Moreover, it generates a new typology for anti-EDL responses – charting a continuum from ‘hard’ to ‘soft’ exclusion and on towards more inclusionary measures. Additionally, it provides the first cross-case analysis of the EDL and its protest – positing de-industrialisation, migration as well as prior histories of extremism and disorder as key contextual drivers when the EDL comes to town. What will be found here is significant. Whilst the majority of political responses towards the EDL have been largely static and exclusionary in nature, how these exclusionary responses manifest themselves and what drives such responses varies greatly. Moreover, some responses have exhibited a more inclusionary character - with a minority of responses involved in engagement and interaction work with both communities prone to and affected by EDL protest. This thesis will argue it is only through politicians’ engagement with the politically disaffected and the construction of meaningful forms of interaction between (previously isolated) communities that we can counteract the populist and prejudicial barbs of the EDL and other far-right groups across Europe. 9 [Page Left Intentionally Blank] 10 Chapter One Introduction and Thesis Structure Chapter Outline 1.1 Background: Anti-Islamic Activism and the UK Far-right 1.2 Lacuna: EDL Studies and Political Responses 1.3 Thesis’ Contribution: Main Empirical and Theoretical Aims 1.4 Thesis Structure and Chapterisation 11 1.1 Background: Anti-Islamic Activism and the UK Far-right The role of Islam in the UK and Western societies more generally has become a hot topic over recent decades. Starting with the Salman Rushdie affair in the late 1980’s through various measures imposed against Jihadi terrorism and culminating in debates on its public expression, Islam and its adherents have been subject to significant antagonism in Western Europe and the U.S.

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