Taxpayer-funded police training likened Nigel Farage and GB News to Islamophobia

The training material disagreed with the findings and argued that Islamic teachings aligned with democracy and religious tolerance.

North Yorkshire Police officers attending the publicly funded hate crime conference in a session at the York and North Yorkshire Hate Crime Conference in 2025.

Mr Farage's questioning of whether Islam is compatible with British values was placed alongside footage of a man racially abusing a Muslim bus driver.

The training formed part of Project Unity, a programme also delivered to students, local authority employees and civil servants working on the counter-extremism Prevent strategy.

During the session, attendees watched a 2024 interview in which Mr Farage warned that "growing numbers of people do not subscribe to British values," citing Muslims and pro-Palestine marchers in London.

He referenced a Henry Jackson Society survey indicating that 46 per cent of British Muslims backed Hamas.

Police training has drawn a direct comparison between Nigel Farage's views on Islam and a racially aggravated criminal offence

YOUTUBE/UNITEDVOICESANPC

Officers were then invited to consider the link between those remarks and a hate crime involving the racial abuse of a bus driver, and to "draw your own conclusions" about the Reform leader.

Abbas Najib, the former police officer who delivered the lecture, asked the audience: "Who is going to get into trouble between those two gentlemen? And who did the most harm?"

He added: "Sitting in a national news studio and saying 'Jews hate Britain'. He'd be locked up before he left the studio and too right too."

Mr Goodwin told GB News he was "shocked and appalled by the context of this talk".

Speaking to the People's Channel, the presenter said: "What this shows is that there are some people in Britain who will not even allow us to have a debate about the role and compatibility of Islam in modern Britain.

"There are many important questions to be asked, such as the view of Islam on the separation of church and state, women's rights, the rights and security of British jews and the ability of people to leave a religion if they wish to do so.

"I am shocked and appalled by the context of this talk, and I'm even more outraged by the fact that it was given to a politically neutral organisation such as the Police.

"I would urge the organisers of this talk to think much more seriously about who they invite for future events because what they appear to be doing is legitimising the British people's fear of two-tier policing."

The session also featured footage from GB News, where presenter Matt Goodwin presented a YouGov poll

YOUTUBE/UNITEDVOICESANPC

Mr Najib also took aim at "mainstream, high-profile politicians" including Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick and Michael Gove for describing pro-Palestine demonstrations as "hate marches," insisting the protests were "protesting genocide."

Better Communities Bradford, a charity that has received £490,000 in public money from the National Lottery Communities Fund since 2019, ran the programme, with £35,000 specifically allocated to Project Unity.

The revelations come amid mounting scrutiny of how police forces apply the law.

Just last week, Policy Exchange disclosed that the National Association of Muslim Police had published papers defending Hamas and labelling terms such as "Islamist" as Islamophobic.

The training material also argued that immigrants and Muslims were being scapegoated for economic stagnation caused by 'the rich'

YOUTUBE/UNITEDVOICESANPC

Earlier this year, retired officer Stephen Gray was fined for posting online criticism of Islam.

Mr Najib said: "Project Unity exists to reduce anti-Muslim hostility and strengthen trust between communities."

He maintained that participants are encouraged to consider how identical language would be received if directed at Jewish or black communities, "so that one standard is applied to everyone, whoever is speaking and whatever their politics."

The training material also argued that immigrants and Muslims were being scapegoated for economic stagnation caused by "the rich."

GB News has approached Abbas Najib and North Yorkshire Police for comment.