Infighting has broken out in Labour after a leading figure in the party claimed they were ‘incapable of tackling racism and Islamophobia following the far-right riots earlier this month. 

Mish Rahman, a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), has accused Sir Keir Starmer and his party of showing double standards by failing to catergorise the attacks as ‘terrorism.’ 

His comment follow riots across England and Northern Ireland which were triggered by misinformation that claimed the suspect in the Southport stabbing, where three girls were killed in a horrific knife attack, was a Muslim. 

This led to widespread violence with far-right mobs attacking hotels housing asylum seekers were attacked. 

Speaking to The Independent, Mr Rahman claimed Labour’s reluctance to label the violent attacks as acts of terrorism suggests ‘it is only terrorism when only committed by a Muslim.’ 

Mish Rahman (pictured), a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) has accused Sir Keir Starmer and his party of showing double standards by failing to catergorise the attacks as ‘terrorism’

Mr Rahman claimed that he believed Sir Keir Starmer’s party was yet to show it has the solutions and understanding to tackle racism

Far-right rioters attacking a hotel in Rotherham which housed asylum seekers. Mr Rahman’s comment follow riots across England and Northern Ireland which were triggered by misinformation that claimed the suspect in the Southport stabbing was a Muslim

He has also accused the Conservatives of ‘intentionally stoking division and hatred’ but he added that he believed Labour was yet to show it has the solutions and understanding to tackle racism. 

Instead, the leading Labour figure has called for Sir Keir to use more compassionate language when discussing migration. 

Meanwhile Britain’s former head of counter terrorism, Neil Basu, has warned that the police should have treated the riots as terrorism during the start of the unrest. 

This incident is not the first time Mr Rahman has clashed with the Labour Party. During the General Election campaign he branded the party ‘institutionally Islamophobic and racist’ after former Labour candidate Faiza Shaheen was blocked from standing for the party. 

In February, he criticised Sir Keir for praising the ‘courage’ of Mr Navalny, who died at the Polar Wolf penal colony in Kharp, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow.

Just days after the Putin critic’s mystery death was revealed, Mr Rahman hit out at Mr Navalny over a 2007 video where he compared Muslims in Chechnya to ‘cockroaches’.

He wrote on X: ‘A case of my enemy’s enemy is my friend. Ignoring the fact that Navalny was a far right Nazi sympathiser… Starmer’s ignorance has no bounds.’

Mr Rahman had retweeted the Labour leader’s post which said: ‘Alexei Navalny showed incredible, impossible courage in his fight for Russian democracy.

‘His death is terrible news for the Russian people. My thoughts are with his friends and family, as well as his supporters across the world.’

Mr Rahman was elected to the NEC in 2022 with the backing of the Corbynite grassroot group Momentum.