Martin Bright backs Kelly

“When, in last May’s reshuffle, Tony Blair appointed Ruth Kelly to deal with Islamism, I was sceptical, I admit…. I have been forced to reconsider. Kelly’s recent statements show a sea change in government policy, driven by her determination to tackle the ideology of radical Islam head-on. Her speech on 11 October to groups representing British Muslims was a wake-up call not just to them, but to Britain at large….

“The MCB will receive no more state funding, she says, until it can show that it shares the common values of a democratic society: freedom of speech, equality of opportunity, tolerance, and respect for the rule of law…. Kelly has made a bold decision to take the ideological battle to radical Islam…. I am told that she spent recent months reading widely on the history of modern political Islam and that she has become fascinated by the subject. One publication she has read is a short pamphlet I wrote for the think-tank Policy Exchange, When Progressives Treat With Reactionaries.”

Martin Bright in the New Statesman, 23 October 2006

Bright must be really pleased with himself. He has helped persuade Kelly to sideline the most representative Muslim organisation in Britain and turn instead to the fraudulent pro-government Sufi Muslim Council.