How will the Muslim Council of Britain respond to Prince Charles' comments?

This is what HRH Prince Charles is saying in tomorrow's Mail on Sunday.

I think he's entirely right to make his comment - I haven't read the full article but the headline and sub-heads are quite clear. And his comments come hard on the heels of Eric Pickles' letter to Muslim leaders in the UK of a couple of weeks ago.

I have been blogging on this subject for some months now and calling for the UK establishment to ask the question of our Muslim neighbours as to whose side they're on.

Clearly my shorthand for what the question we should be asking is not as nuanced or as diplomatic as Prince Charles' or Pickles' but it is essentially exactly the same thing: Namely that in a world where Radical Islam believes it is at war with us in the West, we need to know who is on our side in this country; who we can rely on not just to stand up for our views, laws and values, but, more importantly, not to undermine them at every opportunity.

The response to Pickles' letter - essentially a call for help in addressing this growing problem - was to reject it as incorrectly 'singling out' Muslims. They (Muslim Council of Britain - MCB and others) called it patronising and ignorant. In essence they rejected his premise that 'we should all be on the same side here, do you agree?'

The answer, then, wasn't a clear 'no' but it was very close. Prince Charles has now stepped in - and quite rightly in my opinion - to state what is clearly obvious to most of us: That if you choose to come and live here, to be welcomed, protected by our laws, provided with good healthcare and education for your kids and be respected - and treated equally - by everyone who already lives here, you must reciprocate by abiding by our laws and values.

Respect and tolerance must be a two-way street if we are to live together amicably, peacefully and prosperously. That's not draconian or controlling, but sheer common sense, surely?

Anyway it will be interesting to see how the MCB and others respond to Charlie boy's comments. And I don't think it's a 'throw away' thing. It seems to me this is part of a co-ordinated push by the establishment to put some pressure on. And it is the right thing to do.

Having studied this issue quite closely for a few years now I have inevitably reached some conclusions. I think our government is almost ready to reach some for itself. And like our government I am reluctant to make them public because they are not necessarily comfortable ones.

There are plenty of people on twitter and elsewhere who will tell you that Islam is a danger to us all, that it is anti-democratic, a religion of servitude, conquest and terror and not the 'religion of peace' that we are constantly told it is.

Having studied the Quran and observed the actions of Muslims around the world but also in the UK, I do tend to agree with this conclusion, but if I were to go 'all out' in support of this conclusion, I would be ignored as just another 'racist' nutter and conspiracy theorist. It is far better in my opinion to try to present the facts and issues in as rational a way as possible and in a way which affords 'Moderate Muslims' some benefit of the doubt.

I could (and of course will) go into a litany of criticism of Ialamic-belief-driven acts in the UK which see our long fought for laws being undermined. The track record is not good is it? FGM, vote fraud, forced marriages, honour killings, polygamy, child sexual exploitation on an industrial scale around the country, anti semitism, killings on our streets here and around the globe. Young Muslims going to Syria and Iraq to fight against the West having been brought up in the UK. The 'Trojan Horse' take-over of school curriculums. Sharia law embedded into local communities across the country with resulting 'no-go' areas and police and local authorities being intimidated therein into turning a blind eye to upholding British laws. In our own country?

Multiculturalism may, in theory, be a good thing for Britain, but this kind of multiculturalism clearly is not.

The question remains (just) whether there are any large numbers of 'Moderate Muslims' who abhor these practises and might be willing to stand up for the UK and its laws. And who might, therefore be on our side as opposed to being 'an enemy within'. If it turns out that they are an enemy within, that their belief in a book written by an illiterate goatherd 1,400 years ago when we thought the world was flat, supersedes our modern values, views and laws, then we have a massive problem as a country and as a society.

I think the UK government and Prince Charles are at long last starting to 'get it'.

I fervently hope that 'Moderate Muslims' in our society catch up very quickly and understand that this is a major danger to them and to all of us. If they (Moderate Muslims) don't exist - they may not be active in undermining our laws but by ignoring the problem they are certainly complicit - then we do have a serious problem and its solution will mean large-scale internment and deportation. I can't see any other solution. I know it sounds unthinkably draconian, but can you think of any other way to solve this problem if our neighbours are actively plotting to take over our lives?

As I say the response to Prince Charles' comments will be extremely interesting.

Thanks for reading