UK spies have been told not to shake hands with Muslims to avoid offending them, it has been claimed.
Leaked diversity plans for MI5 and MI6 agents reportedly include a section in which a Muslim civil servant is quoted as saying she won’t shake hands with members of the opposite sex due to her religion.
In the statement, the staffer – who is said to work in HR in Whitehall – suggests that Muslim spies follow the example set by Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
She advocates for them to use his “hand-on-heart greeting” and explicitly state they “don’t shake hands”.
Her guidance for workers exchanging greetings with Muslims is included in a document that also recommends spies take steps to “Support Marginalised People and Groups”.
The document, named the Mission Critical Toolkit, was first uncovered by GB News’ GBN Investigates team, which reported its inclusion of guidance that recommends spies avoid “all white panels”, and even nominate each other for diversity awards.
The toolkit, which was written in July 2022, provides guidance for MI6, MI5 and GCHQ staffers and includes passages that also state they should avoid “alpha behaviours”.
In her statement included in the document, the civil servant states that men should allow Muslim women to “make the first move” during a greeting and that women should “allow the Muslim man to make the first move”.
She added that as “a visibly observant Muslim” she doesn’t “shake hands with people of the opposite gender”.
The document adds that recommendations included in the scheme would include benefits like empowering junior colleagues to “share their lived experiences of racism, discrimination, or other biases they have encountered in their workplace”.
The report states that spies are told to be aware of unconscious biases and participate in unconscious bias training, which was banned in 2020 after the Government concluded it had “no sustained impact on behaviour and may even be counter-productive”.
Speaking to GB News, Harrison Pitt, a senior editor at The European Conservative, said the document demonstrated a “woke takeover of the security services”.
A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office said it is reviewing its diversity policies and considering a “presumption against” spending on them.
They said: “A lot of work has been done to review Equality, Diversity and Inclusion spending across Government, particularly over the last year.
“It is right taxpayers have value for money, and we are considering a presumption against this type of spending in the Civil Service.”
