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Cameron: Radical Islam is mirror image of neo-Nazis
By Joe Murphy, Evening Standard Last updated at 10:32am on 29.01.07David Cameron today attacked radical Muslims as "the mirror image" of the neo-Nazi British National Party.
He used a keynote speech on race and integration to signal plans for tough measures against extremists on both sides.
Attacking the BNP for preaching "pure hate", he went on: "And those who seek a Sharia state, or special treatment and a separate law for British Muslims are, in many ways, the mirror image of the BNP.
"They also want to divide people into 'us' and 'them.' And they too seek out grievances to exploit."
The Tory leader spoke out as a disturbing opinion poll found that radical anti-western attitudes have grown in a generation of young Muslims. The survey found that almost four in 10 would like to live under Sharia law and some 13 per cent "admired" terrorists like those in al Qaeda.
Mr Cameron said the Conservative policy review would publish a report on extremism tomorrow and pledged to unveil new measures against them before long.
Speaking this afternoon at the New Testament Church of God in Handsworth, Birmingham, Mr Cameron was set to say that many barriers to integration were the fault of politicians.
Multiculturalism, he was due to say, was "manipulated" to separate communities rather than help them live together. Warning of "educational apartheid", in his speech he was set to say that poor schools were also to blame because they condemned some children to poverty and were too ignorant to challenge prejudice and extremism.
"Those who get left behind are prime targets for extremists who offer easy explanations and point the finger of blame at other people," he was due to tell his audience. "Young white men are told, 'The blacks are all criminals.' Young Afro-Caribbean men are told, 'The Asian shopkeepers are ripping you off.' Young Muslim men are told, 'The British want to destroy Islam.'"
Mr Cameron's speech adds: "The best answer to ignorance like this is a good education."
And the Tory leader was calling for a slow-down in immigration, which "puts pressure on housing, on public services, and helps create division, fear and resentment - among British people of all ethnic backgrounds".
In an interview with the Sun, Mr Cameron called for a public holiday on the Queen's birthday to encourage people to celebrate their "True Britishness".
Today's poll found a growing minority of young Muslims are being radicalised by political Islam.
Only six in 10 young Muslims, aged under 24, felt they had more in common with non-Muslim people in the UK than with foreign Muslims. Among older Muslims, the figure was 71 per cent.
The proportion who would prefer to live under Sharia law than secular British law differed from 17 per cent among over-55s to 37 per cent among 16- to 24-year-olds.
Young Muslims were twice as likely to want to send their children to a Muslim school. Almost three-quarters said women should wear the veil and 13 per cent admired al Qaeda.
* The Tory leader came under fire today for using the term "crusade" in a call for the integration of Muslims. Complaints followed a newspaper article in which David Cameron called for a "crusade for fairness". Osama Saeed, of the Muslim Association of Britain, said he agreed with much of Mr Cameron's message, but added: "I think it is extraordinarily sloppy language - which is the most charitable slant I can put on it." In medieval times, the crusades were Christian military campaigns to seize Jerusalem from the Muslims. Mr Saeed said: "George Bush launched his 'crusade' against terrorism a few years ago - and I do not understand the fixation with it. It is not a nice word and nice things do not happen on the back of crusades."
Reader views (3)
Mr Cameron would do well to stop name calling and offer the British public something tangible to want us to vote Conservative.
- Chris Roberts, Benfleet, England
Whilst there may be similarities between BNP and radical Islam in that both are fringe movements. This is where the similarities stop.
The difference between the BNP and Radical Islam is that BNP are based on xenophobia and neo-nazi values, whereas radical Islam is the product of Bush/Blair's crusades againast Muslim countries either directly - Iraq & Afghanistan or, indirectly - Syria; Iran; Palestine etc.
If the warmongering and belligerance against Islamic countries was removed we will see advocates of radical Islam without a leg to stand on.
After all why should radical Islam be a problem now, all of a sudden? Doesn't the correlation with Bush/Blair's crusades seem quite obvious enough.
- Aftab Zaman, Nottingham
I can see the similarities between radical Muslims and BNP, both very extreme ways of thinking and neither take into account other cultures. I find both very worrying and their intolerance surely isn't the best thing for the country.
- Erica, Peckham, London
