Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Baroness Warsi tells David Cameron to stop demonising Muslims after Isis comments

Peer's comments come after the Prime Minister said British Muslims were 'quietly condoning Isis'

Caroline Mortimer
Saturday 20 June 2015 11:04 BST
Comments
Baroness Warsi said British muslims were doing all they could to fight ISIS
Baroness Warsi said British muslims were doing all they could to fight ISIS (Getty Images)

Former foreign office minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has accused David Cameron of "demonising" ordinary British Muslims.

The peer attacked a speech made by the Prime Minister in which he warned about the dangers of British Muslims "quietly condoning" extremism.

Writing on Twitter, Baroness Warsi said: "Muslims across the UK are fighting the Isis ideology in their communities; in mosques, community centres, sports groups, study circles.

"It's the children of British Muslims that Isis are targeting to recruit. It's why British Muslims are fighting this evil in forums across the UK."

She accused of the Government of not engaging with the British Muslim community otherwise “it would know how Muslim communities across the UK are fighting Isis ideology”.

In his speech at a security conference in Slovakia on Friday he said it was the job of British Muslims to stand up and challenge extremism.

He said: "Too often we hear the argument that radicalisation is the fault of someone else. That blame game is wrong – and it is dangerous. By accepting the finger-pointing – whether it’s at agencies or authorities – we are ignoring the fact that the radicalisation starts with the individual."

It comes in a week where a teenager from Baroness Warsi’s hometown of Dewsbury is thought to have become the UK’s youngest ever suicide bomber when he reportedly blew himself up in Iraq on 13 June and three Bradford women are believed to have crossed over the border into Syria to join Isis with their nine children.

In a comment piece for the Guardian, Baroness Warsi wrote: "Theresa May’s powerful words at the Metropolitan police’s counter terrorism conference in London 24 hours before the Prime Minister’s Bratislava speech set the right tone and delivered a graphic and frank message: that we must all do more and we must do it together.

"The Prime Minister would have been better advised to follow her example. He should also have been advised not to choose Bratislava as the backdrop to speak to his own British Muslim communities, but to opt for Birmingham, or dare I even suggest, Bradford."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in