Project Unity, delivered by former officer Abbas Najib and funded in part by the National Lottery, showed North Yorkshire Police a 2024 Nigel Farage interview and asked officers to consider whether his remarks could be linked to a separate hate‑crime incident. Trainers argued equivalent comments about Jewish people might have led to criminal consequences and defended the compatibility of Islamic teachings with British values. The charity says the programme aims to reduce anti‑Muslim hostility and build community trust after the 2024 riots.
Police Shown Nigel Farage Clip During Publicly Funded Islamophobia Training — Officers Asked If His Rhetoric Could Fuel Hate Crime
Abbas Najib, a former police officer who is now the chief executive of Better Communities Bradford, gave the talk
Police officers at a hate‑crime conference were shown footage of Nigel Farage and asked to consider whether his public remarks about Islam might be linked to real‑world abuse, The Telegraph has learned.
The session formed part of Project Unity, a training programme delivered by Abbas Najib — a former police officer and now chief executive of the charity Better Communities Bradford. The course, which covers topics such as "media and political narratives" and "myths and misconceptions about Islam", was provided free to York and North Yorkshire Police officers in 2025 as part of the York and North Yorkshire Hate Crime Conference.
Attendees of the conference were told to 'draw your own conclusions' about Mr Farage regarding things he had said
According to presentation materials and footage shown at the session, delegates watched a 2024 interview in which Mr Farage warned that "growing numbers of people do not subscribe to British values," and suggested that this group included Muslims and attendees at pro‑Palestine marches. In the clip he cited a Henry Jackson Society survey that he said found 46% of British Muslims supported Hamas.
Delegates were then asked to "think about the relationship" between those statements and a separate 2024 incident in which a man racially abused a Muslim bus driver. Trainers invited attendees to "draw your own conclusions" about whether political rhetoric could influence behaviour such as the abuse shown in the footage.
Robert Jenrick raised concerns about chants of 'jihad, jihad' by members of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Mr Najib posed a rhetorical question to the audience: "Ask yourself, who is going to get into trouble between those two gentlemen? And who did the most harm?" He also told delegates that had an equivalent statement been made about Jewish people on national television — for example, someone saying "Jews hate Britain" — that person would face criminal consequences.
The presentation argued that the core teachings of Islam are compatible with the list of British values compiled under David Cameron's government — including democracy, the rule of law, respect and tolerance, and individual liberty. Accompanying written materials also disputed claims that Islamic practices necessarily oppress women.
Mr Najib, seen here giving a talk, says Project Unity exists to 'reduce anti-Muslim hostility'
Trainers defended some pro‑Palestine demonstrations as protests against genocide and criticised politicians who labelled those events "hate marches," naming figures such as Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick and Michael Gove. Footage of Matthew Goodwin, now a GB News presenter and a former Reform candidate, was also used to contrast public scepticism about Muslim integration with the training's argument that Islam's teachings support democratic values.
Better Communities Bradford says Project Unity has been delivered to students, council staff and civil servants involved in the Government's Prevent counter‑extremism work. Since 2019 the charity has received £490,000 in public funding from the National Lottery Communities Fund, including a £35,000 grant to roll out Project Unity.
The disclosure comes amid a broader debate about policing and hate‑crime enforcement. Police forces have been criticised both for failing to adopt a sufficiently robust stance on Islamist and anti‑Semitic abuse and for potential inconsistencies in applying legal standards. Earlier this year, research published by Policy Exchange highlighted controversies involving the National Association of Muslim Police; and a retired officer, Stephen Gray, was fined this year for sharing online posts critical of Islam.
Mr Najib defended the training: "Project Unity exists to reduce anti‑Muslim hostility and strengthen trust between communities. We work with councils, police, colleges, charities and community groups to help them understand how prejudice takes hold and how public language can feed it. We apply the same standard to language about any minority community, whoever is speaking and whatever their politics."
The programme's organisers say the sessions aim to challenge generalisations, reduce hostility and build trust in the wake of the 2024 riots. Critics say the use of political figures in training risks politicising police education, while supporters argue analysing public rhetoric is a legitimate part of understanding drivers of hate crime.
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