David Cameron accused of 'divisive smears' over Islamic schools claim

David Cameron was accused of using "divisive smears" by the Schools Secretary after alleging that a radical Muslim group had set up two schools with the help of public cash meant to tackle extremism.

The Tory leader claimed that the Government had been warned that the independent schools in London were being run by a “front organisation for Hizb ut Tahrir�.

Demanding an investigation from Gordon Brown, Mr Cameron said schools run by the ISF (Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation) in Slough and Haringey, London, had received £113,000 of Government money, some of which was from the Pathfinder scheme, the objective of which is meant to be preventing violent extremism.

But within hours of Mr Brown promising an investigation, Ed Balls, the Secretary of State, said that the money going to the schools in Slough and the north London borough of Haringey was in fact intended to fund free nursery places for three and four year olds.

Ofsted looked into both schools after allegations were initially made and established that the claims against them were “unfounded�, he said.

Mr Balls told BBC’s Newsnight: “The issue here is that a very divisive allegation was made about two schools which splits communities, which divides our country, on the basis of false allegations.

“The question is were these schools promoting terrorism or extremism? We have sent in Ofsted advisers, who have gone in and said No. I looked across the curriculum and the evidence was No. In the last few weeks... Haringey and Slough looked at the facts and there was no evidence that extremism has been promoted.

“That’s the responsible thing to do. The responsible thing for David Cameron to do was to check the facts with me before he made smears and allegations which divide our communities.�

Mr Balls released inspection reports that he said showed there was no evidence that the schools had broken any rules and challenged Mr Cameron to provide evidence to back up his claim that they had received cash from funds meant to prevent public extremism.

The head teacher of one of the two schools also accused the Tory leader of failing to check his facts. In a statement, Farah Ahmed said: “Our school is being used as part of a wider political agenda and this type of vilification of the Muslim community needs to stop.�

She added: “We would expect politicians to check the accuracy of the information they receive before using it. No-one from the Conservative Party has contacted the school to verify information.�

But Conservative communities spokesman Paul Goodman told Newsnight: “A charity controlled by an extremist organisation that supports attacks on our troops in Afghanistan has been funded by Ed Balls’ department. Ed Balls is throwing up chaff.

“We know perfectly well that the person who headed up this charity has spoken on Hizb ut Tahrir platforms and her husband is the main media operator for Hizb ut Tahrir in the UK.�

Accusing Mr Brown of failing to act on a pledge to ban Hizb ut Tahrir in the Commons yesterday, Mr Cameron had said the funding showed the Government needed to “get a grip� on the fight to contain Muslim extremism.

“How can you have an anti-extremist fund that results in a Labour local authority handing out money to extremists?

“This is a school set up by extremists, passed by Ofsted and approved by the Charity Commission, but in receipt of public money.

“Doesn’t this prove that we need a much bigger inquiry into how things like this can happen?�

Mr Brown again told Mr Cameron that everything he had said would be investigated “in great detail�.

He added: “The vast majority of Muslims in our country are part of the law-abiding majority of this country and I don’t want it to be said that those people who are citizens of our country and hold the Muslim faith are to be held responsible for acts of terrorism.�

Mr Cameron said he had first asked two years ago about the “extremist group Hizb ut Tahrir and why, despite an explicit promise by Tony Blair that it would be banned, it still hasn’t been banned�.

Hizb ut Tahrir had been looked at and was not a proscribed organisation, Mr Brown said. Ministers needed full evidence in order to proscribe an organisation, he said, telling Mr Cameron: “I think you may regret some of the remarks you have made this morning.�

In his letter last week, Mr Gove wrote: “I believe that the ISF’s schools are teaching an educational philosophy that is incompatible with Britain’s liberal democratic values.�

In his reply to Mr Gove, Mr Balls said the allegations made about the ISF schools in Haringey and Slough were “unfounded�.

Inspections of both schools were carried out when allegations of possible links between ISF and Hizb ut Tahrir were first made two years ago.

The Ofsted inspections found both met the independent school standard for “the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils�.

Public funds provided to the organisation through a local council were for a nursery attached to one of the two schools to enable them to provide free places, Mr Balls said.

In a statement, Haringey council, the local authority covering the other ISF school, said: “The school wrote to us on November 20 stating that it no longer has any links with any of the individuals who are alleged to have connections with Hizb ut Tahrir.

“We are waiting for evidence from the school that the reported connections have been completely severed.�

A visit to the school found “no evidence� to suggest inappropriate content or influence, Haringey said.