Brown not ready for Prime Minister's Questions on Islamist hate group

Telegraph:

Gordon Brown's honeymoon came to a juddering halt in the Commons today with a leaden performance at his first Prime Minister's questions.

The new premier was caught on the hop by David Cameron over the Government's failure to ban the extremist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir, despite having promised to do so two years ago.

"I think people will find it hard to understand why an organisation that urges people to kill Jews hasn't been banned," Mr Cameron said.

Clearly not knowing the answer, Mr Brown was forced to admit: "I have been in this job for five days" - though he actually took over from Tony Blair a week ago.

He was helped out by his former rival for the Labour leadership, John Reid, now on the backbenches after quitting as the Home Secretary last week.

He said the group's activities had been reviewed twice, but there was not sufficient evidence to warrant a ban.

A ban on Hizb-ut-Tahrir without the necessary evidence would be challenged and overturned and would cause significant damage by allowing Islamist extremists to claim they are being oppressed, Mr Reid said.

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I find it interesting that the PC police in the UK can come down on school kids and preachers but can't do anything about a blatant group of religious bigots who want to kill Jews. What they are demonstrating is that being belligerent has its advantages. That is not a message they should be sending at this point.