https://arab.news/nrxr2
- Neville Watson cites rise of Islamophobia, anti-migrant sentiment
- ‘I don’t want to see a society where we weaponize our faith against Islam’
LONDON: Reform UK’s only Black branch chair has resigned from the right-wing party.
Neville Watson told The Guardian that the tone of the migration debate in the UK is doing “more harm than good,” and that he is alarmed by the rise of Christian nationalism and Islamophobia among the party membership.
“Reform has so much momentum at the moment, but leaving has allowed me to proclaim who I am without flinching,” he said.
“I don’t want to see a society where we weaponize our faith against Islam. We respect our Muslim brothers and sisters.”
Watson, who chaired the party’s Enfield branch in north London, said he is worried that party members are “sympathetic” to far-right activist Tommy Robinson, and politics is “losing its compassion.”
Under his leadership, the Enfield branch drew in a diverse membership, including Nigerian and Turkish residents.
But he told The Guardian: “I know that down the track, there’s going to be other issues that I’m going to come into conflict (with Reform) on.
“The march in London recently, with Tommy Robinson, where the term Christian nationalism suddenly raised its head, where they were using Christian emblems to advance to me an ideology that is not Christian … I know that (Reform leader) Nigel (Farage) himself has distanced himself from anything to do with the likes of Tommy Robinson, but I do know that there are still people within Reform who are quite sympathetic to his ideas.”
Politicians “are stoking a fire,” Watson said. “Some might be stoking it with a smaller stick — and that type of conversation, with the boats, the (asylum) hotels, I feel it’s doing more harm than good in terms of community relations.”