At the recent 2014 UK Conservative Party conference, two MP’s with foreign affairs responsibility made strong statements against the Muslim Brotherhood, both abroad and domestically. The first statement was made by Tobias Ellwood MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) whose responsibilities include Middle East and North Africa, Counter Terrorism, and Defence and International Security. The statement, read on his behalf, was made at event titled ‘The Threat of Islamic Extremism in West Africa”:
Similarly, whether it be Al-Shabab elsewhere in Africa, ISIL in the Middle East, Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and the Muslim Brotherhood, then the British government will provide the necessary resource alongside our allies to expose, challenge and the the scourge of global Islamic terrorism. (time 0:27)
At a Q&A session after the event titled “Should Britain Ban Deport and Ban Radical Organizations?”, the moderator initially identifies Anas Al-Tikriti and Azzam Tamimi as residing in London and as examples of individuals representing Islamic fundamentalist groups. In response to the question posed, member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Andrew Rosindell MP said:
I do think we should ban organizations that are facilitating this kind of thing in our own country. I think we have been far too soft for far too long, on a whole range of things and this is one of them and I think if we were to take action it would not only be the right thing to do, it would be the popular thing to do amongst the British people and would show that the conservative government in this country is not going to tolerate such criminality from within our own shores. So we should take much firer action and yes if necessary ban individuals and organizations from operating in this country.
The statements by the UK MP’s are interesting in light of the September GMBDW report that Britain is planning unspecified curbs on what are described as “Muslim Brotherhood-linked organisations” and blocking any Brotherhood “activists” from relocating to the UK.
Anas Al-Tikriti is the well-known son of Osama Al-Tikriti, one of the leaders of the Iraqi Islamic Party representing the Muslim Brotherhood in that country and Anas Al-Tikriti is the leader of the British Muslim Initiative (BMI), part of the UK Muslim Brotherhood.
Azzam Tamimi is a Palestinian also affiliated with the BMI but who has also for years served as a spokesperson for Hamas.