Professor John Holmwood joined me at IHRC in 2018 to discuss his book on the so-called Trojan Horse affair entitled Countering Extremism in British Schools? The Truth About the Birmingham Trojan Horse Affair.
.He and co-author Dr. Therese O’Toole argued the affair, that saw teachers, school governors and parents – mostly but not solely Muslim – demonised by the government and media, was a miscarriage of justice on a par with the Hillsborough Tragedy in terms of scale and injustice.
Watch our conversation below. Further details after the video. Buy the book here and on other platforms.
Find more resources on the Trojan Hoax affair here[external link].
About the book
In 2014 an investigation into an alleged plot to ‘Islamify’ several state schools in Birmingham began. Known as the ‘Trojan Horse’ affair, this caused a previously highly successful school to be vilified. Holmwood, an expert witness in the professional misconduct cases brought against the teachers, and co-author Dr. Therese O’Toole, who researches the government’s counter-extremism agenda, challenge the accepted narrative and draw on the potential parallel with the Hillsborough disaster to suggest a similar false narrative has taken hold of public debate. This important book highlights the major injustice inflicted on the teachers and shows how this affair was used to criticise multiculturalism, and justify the expansion of a broad and intrusive counter extremism agenda.
About the author
John Holmwood is Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham. From 2012 to 2014, he was President of the British Sociological Association and in 2014/15, he was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA. He acted as an Expert Witness to the Court in one of the National College for Teaching and Leadership hearings against teachers arising from the Trojan Horse affair.
See also In memoriam: Sir Tim Brighouse
