Three separate investigations into the alleged Trojan Horse plot to take over Birmingham schools will only increase confusion and lead to more delays, a city MP has claimed.
Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood is now calling for a swift and coordinated inquiry by the Department for Education, Ofsted and Birmingham City Council.
His call came after it was announced that Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw would personally lead on the issue, after leaks revealed six Birmingham schools are to be placed in special measures.
This was the third major inquiry announced in the last week, with Secretary of State Michael Gove’s appointment of counter-terrorism expert Peter Clarke to head the Department for Education investigation and a city council probe led by former teacher Ian Kershaw.
Mr Mahmood: “We have three different people leading three different inspections. There is a risk of over kill. This just creates confusion, leads to duplication and causes delay.
“What happens if they come up with different recommendations? Whose do they implement first? It would be better if there was a single inquiry which was transparent, effective and finished quickly.”
The MP said he was convinced there is a concerted plot to infiltrate secular schools in majority Muslim areas and impose hard-line Islamic teaching ‘by stealth’.
The alleged Trojan Horse plot was outlined in an anonymous letter to the city council and Mail. It claimed hard-line Muslims were putting themselves into positions of power in schools in Birmingham and appointing like-minded individuals.
Named in the letter was Park View Academy in Alum Rock where it is alleged that boys and girls are being segregated and sex education discouraged. The claims have been robustly denied by the school.
The city council has been inundated with more than 200 claims and allegations and a total of 25 Birmingham schools are now under varying degrees of investigation.
The Muslim Council of Britain has been critical of the appointment of a counter-terrorism expert to head the Government inquiry - saying there is a risk of a ‘witch hunt’.
A spokesman said: “It is therefore critical that any investigations are seen to be impartial and not victimising a community. Such an appointment only re-enforces such notions, and once again, our community is seen through the narrow prism of security and counter-terrorism.”
