Teddy bear peer attacks fellow Muslims for 'victim culture' and failing to condemn terrorism

In her first major speech, Conservative peer Baroness Warsi also attacked Labour's idea of multiculturalism, which she said had become a "doctrine of separate identity".

Different groups were encouraged to feel that identity "requires the expression of difference to the point of hostility", she said.

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Lady Warsi, who helped secure the release of teddy-bear row teacher Gillian Gibbons after she was jailed in Sudan, insisted that Muslims had a responsibility not to confuse social expectations with genuine religious requirements, she said.

For instance, a Muslim woman should be free to wear a veil in her private life if she chose to do so but also to wear any other dress she felt appropriate.

Lady Warsi, addressing a conference on race equality in London, warned: "As long as the Muslim community remains in a victim culture they allow others to control the debate."

And she attacked "hardliners and hotheads who claim to speak for British Muslims", highlighting their claims that it was un-Islamic to vote or for women to have access to schools and jobs.

She told them such views were simply "wrong, wrong, wrong".

She also attacked the label "honour killings".

"There is nothing honourable about these murders and perpetrators of such crimes should not be allowed to hide behind any faith," she said.

She said Muslims had an "added responsibility" to tackle extremism because it was "claimed in the name of Islam".

She warned of the barriers created by multiculturalism and said the Tories would "reverse the failed state multicultural approach" and ensure sufficient English language teaching for all new arrivals and proper teaching of English history for all children.

She called for a national foundation to provide support and guidance for families or individuals who picked up on warning signs of disenchantment with Britain.