Progress Online carries details of a fringe meeting to be organised by the Quilliam Foundation at the Labour Party conference next month on ‘How should the Left engage with British Muslims’.

The speaker line up includes: Rt Hon John Denham MP, Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government; Ed Husain, Co-director, Quilliam Foundation; Martin Bright, Tahir Abbas, Birkbeck, University of London.

The choice of Martin Bright (pictured) is a very notable one. Martin Bright is, of course, an enthusiastic supporter of the Quilliam Foundation.

ENGAGE readers will be aware that Bright also happens to be the notorious author of the very ill-informed, highly offensive and deeply mischievous 2001 New Statesman cover story ‘The Great Koran Con Trick’. Bright’s arguments were openly ridiculed and debunked by the very scholars – including his own former SOAS tutor, Professor Gerald Hawting - whose work he drew upon to support his crude hatchet job on the Qur'an. 

For Bright - whose views on Islam have also been discussed at Islamophobia Watch - to appear on a panel discussing how the Left should engage with British Muslims speaks volumes of QF’s own non-existent credibility with UK Muslims.

Bright’s work on the Left and British Muslims was published by none other than Policy Exchange, the neo-con 'think tank' whose Chairman, Charles Moore, was recently at the centre of a libel case successfully brought by the Muslim Council of Britain against the BBC. PX also published, then apologised and withdrew, the misleading ‘Hijacking of British Islam’ report, which used fabricated research to support its false allegations that the Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre stocked hate literature. 

Earlier this month Bright announced that he would be joining the staunchly pro-Israel publication, the Jewish Chronicle, as its new political editor. 

Most recently, you will not be surprised to know that Martin Bright expressed fulsome support for Jim Fitzpatrick MP and his decision to walk out of a segregated Muslim wedding to which he had been invited and then launch a high-profile media attack on the practice.

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Rt. Hon. John Denham MP, is by all accounts a sensible bloke. It is to be recalled that he resigned his position as a Minister in 2003 rather than vote to support the foolish decision to go to war against Iraq. However, if Denham is hoping to find some answers to the question of how the Left should engage British Muslims, then with a line up like this, he’s sure to be disappointed.

You can let John Denham know what you think of the Quilliam Foundation and Martin Bright by emailing him at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

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Charlie says.....  - .....Quilliam and Bright are made for each other   |2009-09-01 00:30:05 One for the 'Oh, and is the Pope Catholic?' department, I think. Their short and shameful history has shown that Ed Husain and Maajid Nawaz will not think twice about allying themselves with Islamophobes and Israel-firsters if it will help them gain publicity. They are a pathetic duo.

Ahmed  - Charlatan   |2009-09-02 16:44:01 Martin Bright is also on record describing Shaykh Hamza Yusuf as a charlatan. The QF fools have absolutely no credibility - they are a laughing stock.

Illuminati  - Spittoon put foot in it again   |2009-09-02 18:51:12 The Muslim Zionists at the Spittoon have written yet another illiterate piece about Engage:- http://www.spittoon.org/archives/2390 They seem to have managed to miss the fact that you mentioned that this QF event was being held at the Labour Party conference in your very first paragraph! Being a Muslim Zionist evidently does not require much in the way of brain power.

Illuminati  - Question for Ahmed   |2009-09-03 00:22:50 Where is it 'on record' that Bright described Shaykh Hamza Yusuf as a "charlatan"?

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