British mosques are more extreme than ours in Baghdad, warns Iraq's deputy PM

Dr Barham Salih claimed some mosques in Blackburn would be banned in Iraq for the extremist messages they preach.

He made his comments during a dinner party in Baghdad attended by Tory culture spokesman Tobias Ellwood.

The 41-year-old MP claimed Dr Salih said: "I am not surprised that you British are facing so many problems with extremists after what I saw in those mosques in Blackburn.

"What I saw would not be allowed here in Iraq. It would be illegal."

Dr Salih, a Sunni Muslim, went to several mosques in Blackburn when he visited the town on the invitation of the then Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, in 2005.

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Muslims make up about a quarter of the population of Blackburn where Dr Salih campaigned for Mr Straw in the runup to the general election.

Mr Ellwood said the comments made by Dr Salih at November's dinner in Baghdad shocked him.

"I do not believe these comments can be dismissed out of hand," he said.

"I was absolutely shocked. He went inside the mosques and said literature he saw would be illegal. He was quite clear."

Mr Ellwood, who made the claims during a Westminster debate about terrorism, said: "The comments are only directed at a very small proportion of mosques in the UK. The vast majority of Muslims wouldn't want to be labelled."

Last night Muslim groups reacted with fury with what they saw as an attempt to smear them.

Salim Mulla, chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: "We are going out of our way to bring the community together.

"Nobody is working harder than us at breaking down barriers.

"For Dr Salih to make these sort of comments is not very helpful at all. I don't know where he's coming from.

"He was very co- operative when he visited, and took lots of photographs. How many incidents have we had in Blackburn? He is talking a load of rubbish."

Last night Justice Minister Mr Straw said: "The overwhelming majority of people of the Muslim faith in Blackburn are the same as everyone else in the community - they want to lead peaceful and harmonious lives.

"The mosques in Blackburn, and the Lancashire Council of Mosques, are in the lead on this.

"This issue shows the danger of relying on second-hand information. I've no idea what was said at a Baghdad dinner party attended by Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood in in November, and only reported to the Commons two months later.

"But I was present when the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister kindly came to Blackburn to speak in my support during the 2005 General Election.

"It was true that during that last election campaign there were some people who vocally expressed extreme views, and some of them trailed me and those who supported me around the town.

"But they were not inside the mosques, and most of those came from outside the town, disappearing quickly after I'd won in the election."

Several mosques in northern towns have been condemned as a "radical influence" on young Muslim men.

However Blackburn is known for successful race relations and has often been held up as an example of good integration. There are more than 20 mosques providing for the Lancashire town's 30,000 Muslim residents.