Muslims with grievances against the West are wrong – Blair

The government cannot alone root out extremism in Muslim communities and defeat the terrorism it creates, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said. He hit back at claims ministers had done little to win Muslim “hearts and minds” since the 7 July London bombs. He said he was “probably not the person to go into the Muslim community”. It was down to moderate Muslims to stand up to extremism and tell those with “grievances” against the West they were wrong, Mr Blair told MPs. He was speaking after Muslim Labour MP Sadiq Khan said he was disappointed with the government’s engagement with the Muslim community in the year since the London bombings.

BBC News, 4 July 2006

Read Sadiq Khan’s Fabian Society lecture here.