Dominic Grieve, the former Conservative attorney general and a prominent Remainer, has been “recommended” to chair the council within Ms Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) as a politician who has been actively involved in tackling Islamophobia.
He chaired the Citizens’ UK Commission on Islam, which aimed to promote dialogue between Muslim and non-Muslim communities, and wrote a foreword to a controversial all-party parliamentary group’s report in 2018 that set out a definition of Islamophobia, which the Labour Party adopted.
The definition has been criticised for being so widely drawn that it curbs free speech, amounts to a de facto blasphemy law and stifles legitimate criticism of Islam as a religion.

Ms Rayner, pictured on the election campaign trail last year, is leading the drive against anti-Muslim discrimination
Among the 16 candidates shortlisted for the council is Qari Asim, a Leeds imam who was dismissed as a government adviser by the Tories in 2022 after backing calls for a ban on the film The Lady of Heaven, about the Prophet Mohammed’s daughter.
Ministers have yet to say whether they will adopt the all-party group’s definition of Islamophobia or an alternative. Opponents have urged them to shelve the plans because of free speech concerns.