I had assumed that Sayeeda Warsi, newly appointed by David Cameron as the Tories’ shadow minister for Community Cohesion, was a Muslim committed to fighting rather than appeasing Islamist extremism. There was surely no way that, in today’s circumstances, Cameron could have appointed someone who was not. However shallow and opportunistic his repositioning strategy might be, he would surely be extremely careful to appoint someone who was absolutely beyond reproach as unequivocally opposed to both terrorism and extremism. How wrong can you be. The website conservative.home has just posted up a jaw-dropping revelation of Ms Warsi’s views. Here’s a taste:

Mrs. Warsi has been a fierce critic of British anti-terror policy, stating that anti-terrorism legislation had turned Britain into a ‘police state’. According to The Times, in a 2006 article for the Asian newspaper Awaaz, written while serving as vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, Warsi described the Government’s anti-terror proposals as ‘enough to tip any normal young man into the realms of a radicalized fanatic.’ She also wrote that ‘if terrorism is the use of violence against civilians, then where does that leave us in Iraq?’…

Warsi also dismissed the idea that pressure should be placed upon British Muslims to root out extremists within their midst, commenting that ‘when you say this is something that the Muslim community needs to weed out, or deal with, that is a very dangerous step to take.’… Sayeeda Warsi has been highly critical of the war in Iraq, and called upon former Prime Minister Tony Blair to apologise for the war, an extraordinary statement at a time when thousands of British soldiers are putting their lives on the line every day… In a January 2006 BBC Any Questions? debate, Warsi welcomed the election of Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hamas, a brutal movement officially proscribed as a terrorist group by the British Government. Hamas murdered 377 Israelis in 425 terrorist attacks between September 2000 and March 2004, including 52 suicide attacks. Despite Hamas’s track record, as part of the BBC panel Warsi told her audience:

‘I think what’s happened in the Middle East with the election of Hamas is actually an opportunity and I think that’s the way we’ve got to see it. When groups that practice violence are suddenly propelled into power through a democratic process they get responsibility and responsibility can be a tremendously taming factor. And I think that Hamas, when it realizes that it wants a safe and stable and prosperous Palestine for its people, will realize that the way to deal with that is through dialogue and democracy and not through violence… I actually think that Hamas has been given a mandate and I think it will now hopefully adopt a responsible position because that is the only way.’

…Warsi has also entered the fray over the highly sensitive issue of Kashmir and, according to the Press Association, suggested in a July 2005 BBC One Politics Show interview that new anti-terror laws should not prevent support among Britons for ‘freedom fighters’ in Kashmir. Comparing Islamic rebels in the disputed province with Nelson Mandela and the ANC, Warsi observed that:’We have a community in Britain, a Pakistani and Kashmiri community, who holds a very, very strong view about Kashmir and the scope of freedom-fighting in Kashmir. It would concern me if… the definition of terrorism was to cover maybe (the) legitimate freedom-fight in Kashmir.’ It should be noted that Britain currently outlaws no less than six Kashmiri terrorist organizations: Harakat Ul-Jihad-Ul Islami, Harakat-Ul-Mujahideen/Alami and Jundallah, Harakat Mujahideen, Jaish e Mohammed, Khuddam Ul-Islam and splinter group Jamaat Ul-Furquan, and Lashkar e Tayyaba. It is hard to see how such extreme views will actually enhance ‘community cohesion’ in Britain’s inner cities, and it is difficult to think of a more explosive issue than Kashmir in fomenting tensions between British citizens of Pakistani and Indian origin.

At such a time, when the country needs to show the most resolute stance possible against both Islamist terrorism and the religious fanaticism that drives it, it is absolutely fundamental that our politicians do not allow a single chink of light to show through this defence. David Cameron’s appointment of a person with such views to such a position at such a time is exceptionally worrying. The fact that such a revelation has surfaced on the Tories’ principal internet sounding board indicates the gravity of this — and all credit to conservative.home for having the courage to do it.

We now have a Labour government which is censoring all references to Muslims and Islam when talking about al Qaeda, and a Tory opposition which appears to believe that ‘community cohesion’ means declining to suggest to British Muslims that they should weed out the extremists in their midst.

Londonistan rules.