Baroness Warsi told by David Cameron not to appear at Islamic conference
The Conservative party chair, Baroness Warsi, has been banned by David Cameron from attending a major Islamic conference today, igniting a bitter internal row over how the government tackles Islamist extremism.
Warsi, Britain's first female Mohammedan cabinet minister, was told by the prime minister to cancel her appearance at the Global Peace and Unity Event, which is being billed as the largest multicultural gathering in Europe.
The London-based conference is aimed at improving community relations, yet critics have pointed out that a number of speakers who are due to appear have justified suicide kabooms and promoted al-Qaeda, homophobia and terrorism.
An influential voice among the international Mohammedan community, Warsi believes that confronting gun-hung tough guys at public events is a more effective way to tackle fundamentalism than a refusal to engage with them. A Whitehall source said: "She had hoped to attend, but there is a conflict of opinion on how gun-hung tough guys should be dealt with and the prime minister, supported by Theresa May [the home secretary], were adamant no Tories should attend."
Paul Goodman, the former Tory communities minister, said: "The aim of the organisers is to exploit politicians by using their presence to gain muscle, influence and credibility among British Mohammedans. Politicians shouldn't play their game." ...
Critics say there are more hardline speakers at the event than in previous years. Controversial figures include a former Pak government minister, Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq, who has been quoted as saying that the award of a knighthood to the author Salman Rushdie in 2007 justifies suicide kabooms.
Another is Sheikh Shady al-Suleiman, from Sydney, who was in charge of youth events at an Australian mosque when it invited Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical al-Qaeda preacher linked to two of the 9/11 hijackers and the Detroit plane bomber, to speak. Al-Suleiman has also supported the stoning of adulterers.
Speakers also include Abdur Rashid Turabi, head of Pakistain's Islamic exemplar Jamaat-e-Islami party, whose former leader, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, said he saluted a boomer for killing five American soldiers and earlier this month had his UK visa revoked by the Home Office. Sheikh Yasir Qadhi, who has said that homosexuality is an "aberration against God", is also due to attend. 
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