John Reid responds bluntly to British Muslim representatives

The BBC is reporting the words of John Reid in response to the letter placed in advertisements by British Muslim MP's, Peers and the MCB.

He is reported as follows by the BBC:

The home secretary said he would not question the motives of those who signed the letter, but said it was a "dreadful misjudgement if they believe that the foreign policy of this country should be shaped in part or in whole under the threat of terrorist activity".

Mr Reid told the BBC: "No government worth its salt would stay in power in my view, and no government worth its salt, would be supported by the British people if our foreign policy or any other aspect of policy was being dictated by terrorists.

"That is not the British way, it is antithetical to our very central values. We decide things in this country by democracy, not under the threat of terrorism."

Too right. I imagine he'd prefer not to question their motives and he has some idea of where that would lead him.

Those who wrote this letter have completely misjudged the country they are part of. We will not be black mailed.

Michael Howard has just come out and said it:

Echoing this stance, former Tory leader Michael Howard said the letter had given "ammunition" to extremists.

He said: "It is, I think, completely misconceived to suggest that we should change our foreign policy because it might cause some people to take up arms against us.

"That's a form of blackmail and I think that letter was completely misconceived."

That contains some of what I said earlier here... . I went further to suggest that those who wrote the letter (also quoted in my previous post ) might have felt they had some right to determine British policy, by right of their religion.

This is the underlying problem. These leaders have done nothing of worth that I have noticed to help their fellow religionists dying at each other's hands - where British Foreign policy might help - eg Darfur. But they will pay for adverts where it seems to me the major issue is pride and a desire for dominance rather than care for the citizens of Lebanon. ( The quickest way to stop the suffering in Lebanon would be for Hezbollah to stop firing rockets and get rid of their stock pile of random murder weapons.)

Events will no doubt tell if I have been too harsh or Dr Reid has been too generous. I get the feeling that patience is running out, even on the left, with the MCB and it co-travelers.