UK media is reporting the Prime Minister David Cameron has said that the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) “has a problem” following its accusations that government ministers were behaving like the far right. According to Telegraph report:
Jan 2015 David Cameron has said that the Muslim Council of Britain ‘has a problem’ after it accused ministers of behaving like the ‘far right’.
The Telegraph disclosed that Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, has written to 1,100 imams and Islamic leaders saying they must do more to root out ‘men of hate’ who preach extremism.
The Muslim Council of Britain responded by urging Mr Pickles to clarify his request, asking if like ‘members of the far right’ he was suggesting that Islam is inherently apart from the rest of British society.
Speaking in Ipswich, Mr Cameron said: ‘It’s absolutely right to write this letter, to say we all have a responsibility to fight extremism.
‘Anyone who reads this letter will see that what he is saying is that British Muslims make a great contribution to our country.
‘What is happening in terms of extremist terror has nothing to do with true Islam.
‘Anyone frankly reading this letter who has a problem with it I think really has a problem.
‘It is the most reasonable, sensible, moderate letter that Eric could possibly have written.
‘All of us have a responsibility to try and confront this radicalisation and make sure we stop young people being drawn into this poisonous, fanatical death cult.’
In 2009, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) was embroiled in controversy surrounding a statement signed by its then Secretary-General which called for violence against Israel and thought to condone attacks on British troops. The original statement was the result of a February 2009 meeting in Istanbul where religious scholars and clerics met with senior Hamas officials to plan a “third Jihadist front” centre on Gaza and was first publicly reported by the GMBDW.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is a UK umbrella group that has historically been dominated by the Jaamat-I-Islami and usually acts in concert with the Global Muslim Brotherhood.