Raheem Kassam

Raheem Kassam is the Director of Campaigns at the Henry Jackson Society^[1][2] in the United Kingdom and has written for various outlets including the Wall Street Journal Europe^[3], ConservativeHome^[4], Standpoint Magazine^[5] and the Jewish Chronicle. Kassam also runs the 'Student Rights' programme^[6], which 'tackles extremism on campuses' in the United Kingdom ^[7] and acts as the Executive Editor for The Commentator website.^[8] Kassam has recently spoken out against extremism and Shariah Law on Channel 4's 4Thought programme.^[9]

In May 2011, Kassam was noted as one of the 'Westminster Brat Pack'^[10] on the British political blog Conservative Home.^[11]

Similarly, the London Evening Standard featured Kassam in a piece on the 'Rainbow Tories', asking which of several young professionals could be a future Prime Minister.^[12] Kassam is also a regular speaker for the Young Britons' Foundation^[13], a right of centre political training organisation.^[2]

Contents 1 Conservative Party 2 TaxPayers' Alliance 3 The Henry Jackson Society 3.1 Student Rights 4 The Commentator 5 Jon Huntsman for President 6 The Bow Group 7 References

Conservative Party

Kassam was a member of the Conservative Party from 2008–2009 and was involved in various aspects of the party.

Kassam served on the National Executive of Conservative Future^[14] in 2009, with responsibility for the 'Conservative Future TV' YouTube Channel. Under Kassam's stewardship, the channel relaunched with a video that has over 5,000 views as of March 2011. The previous Conservative Future TV launch video garnered only around 300 views.

During the General Election in 2010, Kassam served as the Director of the Campaign to Elect Michelle Donelan.^[2] The campaign was fought against the Labour Party's incumbent Minister of State for Housing and Planning, John Healey MP in the Parliamentary constituency of Wentworth and Dearne. The campaign achieved a 7.49% swing away from the Labour Party^[15], which fell short of the 23% swing required^[16], but beating a national swing of 5%.

The day after the 2011 Conservative Party Conference 2011, the London Evening Standard included Kassam in a list of the "next Tory generation".^[12]

TaxPayers' Alliance

Kassam worked briefly for the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA), a libertarian, low-tax pressure group, over the summer of 2010, on the 'Hate Education' campaign^[17] which scrutinized foreign aid to the Palestinian territories. Kassam subsequently co-authored a piece in the Wall Street Journal Europe on this issue with the Director of Research at the TPA, Matthew Sinclair.^[3] Kassam was also quoted as a 'UK Tea Party organiser' during this period, in Britain's Daily Telegraph.^[18]

The Henry Jackson Society

Kassam is the Director of Campaigns at the Henry Jackson Society: Project for Democratic Geopolitics, a British-based foreign policy think tank whose patrons include Dr. Robert Kagan, William Kristol, Richard Perle and Natan Sharansky.

Kassam has been featured on the BBC World Service discussing the 2011 Libyan civil war insisting, 'the West need to act to help the Libyan people'.^[19]

Student Rights

Originating as a Henry Jackson Society programme, the 'Student Rights' project seeks to 'tackle extremism on campuses' and 'support equality, democracy and freedom'.^[20] Kassam has been quoted as the Director of Student Rights across the national news media, notably discussing Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab ^[21][22] and the London School of Economics' ties to the Gaddafi regime of Libya in 2011.^[23][24]

Kassam has been an outspoken critic of Universities UK on the issue of extremism on campuses, noting their guidance of 2011 left universities with 'arms open to Islamists, racists and fascists'.^[25]

In an interview with the Times Higher Education supplement, Kassam states that he believes, 'there are not enough checks and balances in the booking of speakers [on campuses]. He calls for "balancing the panels in debates or moving events off campus, so they are not using taxpayer resources. That's much better than outright banning. We need an intelligent discourse about contentious issues alongside activism. It is the responsibility of student unions to get the best out of their debates."'^[22]

In February 2011, Student Rights led a campaign to make the London School of Economics donate £300,000 received from the Gaddafi Foundation to 'charity or into scholarships for Libyan students'.^[26] Kassam commented to the London Evening Standard about the apparent redaction of information pertaining to Libyan links from the LSE website, "It is a cynical move and they should know this cannot just be swept under the carpet. This was a naive attempt to rewrite history."^[27] He has also expressed concern for the fact that the Director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti has not stood down over the affair, telling the Jerusalem Post, "We are making a public call for LSE Council members to stand down if they were involved. It is hypocritical and incongruous for someone like Chakrabarti to serve as the director of a human rights group while legitimizing murderous regimes."^[28]

In June 2011, Student Rights, in conjunction with Robert Halfon MP produced a report illustrating the links between the Saudi Arabian Royal Family and the School of Oriental and African Studies(SOAS), London.^[29][30] The report was distributed to Members of the UK Parliament and received media coverage in the Jewish Chronicle and Jerusalem Post.^[31]

The report highlighted the fact that Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a man criticised by over 2,500 Muslim scholars, serves on the editorial board of the Saudi-funded SOAS Qu'ranic Studies Journal, and criticised the university for accepting £755,000 from the Saudi Royal Family and its affiliates. The report also noted the hypocrisy of universities which pride themselves on human rights standpoints and equality legislation being allied to regimes that are contrary to this. The Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United Kingdom responded to the report in an open letter to Members of Parliament, stating "If Saudi money is questionable, then following a change in British law we will willingly abide by this and change our policy accordingly."^[32]

The Commentator

Kassam is currently also the Executive Editor^[8] at The Commentator website. He has contributed articles on chequebook diplomacy^[33], the French ban on face covering^[34], the deepwater horizon oil spill^[35], Islamism^[36], the death of Osama bin Laden^[37], the Israel-Palestine conflict^[38], and racial profiling^[39] amongst others.

Jon Huntsman for President

In July 2011, Kassam announced on Twitter that he was going to work for the Jon Huntsman For President campaign based out of Orlando, Florida. Kassam has written about his admiration for Huntsman previously.^[40]

The Bow Group

In October 2011, The Bow Group held its annual elections which resulted in a takeover by "Bow Forward", a political slate headed by Ben Harris-Quinney and Raheem Kassam.^[41][42] Though Kassam was not eligible to stand for a position at the election, he was unanimously co-opted onto Bow Group Council and currently serves as Communications Director.^[43]

References

Persondata
Name	Kassam, Raheem
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 August 1986
Place of birth	Hammersmith, London
Date of death
Place of death