'Fight of our lives': Inside the Muslim Labour conference event addressed by Wes Streeting

A long queue of Muslims gathered outside the Hilton hotel in Liverpool on Monday night, waiting to gain entry into what could have been mistaken for a nightclub. 

A long room coated in pink and purple fluorescent lighting filled up with conference attendees eating buffet food.

A few imams roamed amongst the guests, whose ranks included multiple Labour backbenchers.

The event, held on the fringes of the Labour conference, was in fact organised by a Muslim think tank called Equi, which was founded only a year ago and proudly receives no government funding. 

Equi was promoting its new report into how Muslim-led youth initiatives save the UK £30m ($40m) every year.

The think tank's key task is to demonstrate that it has the ear of government.

In theory this should not be easy, considering the difficulties Muslim civil society groups have had in engaging with successive British governments.

Even the Muslim Council of Britain, the largest umbrella body of British Muslim groups, is considered beyond the pale for Labour.

But Equi was founded with significant support from MPs and peers - including Afzal Khan of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims, and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the (now former) Tory peer.

Much of the buzz at Equi surrounded the rumoured attendance of Wes Streeting, the man of the moment in Liverpool.

'The fight of our lives'

The sleek health secretary is widely seen as the most likely contender for prime minister if the bealeaguered Keir Starmer is forced out - something that many Labour members see happening by May next year.

Streeting has been at event after event at the party conference, often talking about the NHS but also ruminating on national issues at large. 

Shuttled in half an hour late by his aides, he was greeted warmly by Equi's director, Dr Javed Khan.

'The views and the opinions of four million Muslims in our country are being sidelined or silenced or marginalised, and we can't stand for that'

- West Streeting, health secretary

The crowd fell completely silent as Streeting began his address. The health secretary spoke confidently and passionately, largely about British Muslims and the threat from the far right.

Most in the crowd were supportive. Many said they felt he spoke passionately.

Others noted as they sipped their orange juice that Streeting nearly lost his seat at the last election to a then-23-year-old Palestinian independent candidate, Leanne Mohamed. 

One gentleman said he felt like heckling Streeting over his government's continued political and military ties with Israel, but restrained himself. 

The event came at a good time for Streeting, because Starmer chose the conference to launch an apparent progressive fightback against Reform, branding its policies racist and opposing them more passionately than he has done before.

Streeting far surpassed the prime minister in his rhetoric.

"We've got the fight of our lives on our hands, because the battle lines in British politics are no longer between left and right," he declared.

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"They're between right and wrong. They're between progressives, some reactionaries, patriots and nationalists. Hope not hate."

Streeting then recalled arguing with an internet user who asked him: "'Why are you leaping to defend these people [Muslims] that throw you off the top of a building because you're gay?'

"And I replied on the same website... you think I'm so stupid that I don't realise that when you're done with the Muslims, you're coming for me?"

Streeting said that "the views and the opinions of four million Muslims in our country are being sidelined or silenced or marginalised, and we can't stand for that."

Israel's genocide in Gaza was noticeably absent as a topic in Streeting's speech.

At one point he used the unfortunate phrase "for someone who aspires to be the prime minister", which caused an excited murmur among people who had lost focus and thought Streeting was admitting leadership ambitions for the first time.

Not so - he was referring to Nigel Farage, as attendees established disappointedly later on.

Shabana Mahmood on multiculturalism

After Streeting left, a surprise guest speaker turned up: Shabana Mahmood, the former justice secretary who recently became home secretary.

Mahmood, a Muslim, had just unveiled a controversial policy requiring migrants to show they have contributed to society through volunteering and speak a high standard of English in order to be given indefinite leave to remain (ILR).

'I think that this country [can return] to its inherent openness, its inherent tolerance and its inherent generosity'

- Shabana Mahmood, home secretary

The policy was an apparent response to a recent Reform proposal to scrap ILR altogether.

Much rests on Mahmood's shoulders. Her success or failure on immigration in the eyes of the public could determine whether Reform wins the next election.

In her speech, Mahmood outlined what was effectively her philosophy of multiculturalism.

The home secretary believes that by reducing and controlling immigration levels, the government can defeat the insurgent right wing and restore harmony.

She said there are many British people on a "journey between patriotism and full blown ethno-nationalism".

The government, she said, must "persuade them that they should come back to the patriotism around which all of us can unite... It is about having a migration system that is fair, that is well managed, that is controlled, that does involve contribution, because we know that common people contribute."

Mahmood explained: "The British spirit is very generous and very welcoming, and it's our job to unlock all of that. And we also need safe streets and a secure nation.

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"And once all of those four pillars are in place, I think that this country returns to its inherent openness, tts inherent tolerance and its inherent generosity.

"That is the vision that I have for this country and the vision that this government has for this country."

The home secretary took numerous selfies with fans in the crowd before leaving.

Attendees congregated around a giant cake to celebrate Equi's first anniversary (Streeting had earlier jokingly proclaimed "by the power vested in me as health secretary" that the cake had zero calories).

The think tank has much to celebrate. Both the home secretary and health secretary (who could be prime minister) showed up to its fringe event.

Several attendees said they felt comforted as British Muslims by this.

It would have been hard to imagine even a year ago. Here, at least, is one Muslim organisation that is definitely not out in the cold.