Good for Jim Fitzpatrick!

Given that I've declared myself as a Tory, it perhaps seems a bit odd that I'm going to devote my first blog post proper to praising a Labour MP. But I am!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6023519/Jim-Fitzpatrick-Government-minister-condemns-traditional-Muslim-wedding.html

Jim Fitzpatrick, Lab MP for Poplar and Canning Town, walked out of a Muslim wedding of a constituent yesterday because he discovered that he and his wife would have to sit in separate rooms at the wedding.

He might have been a bit pro-speed cameras when he was at Transport, and he became "Mr Post Office Closure", but he touches a nerve with this remark:

"The segregation of men and women never used to be a strong feature...only recently has this strict line been taken".

In other words, as time passes, the interpretation of Islam adopted in the UK has become more extreme. So much for integration then.

About five years ago, there was this furore about the need for "Muslim finance" at our banks. The argument went something along the lines of "Islam prohibits the lending of money for interest, and so we need some new projects". Many banks now offer so-called "Islamic mortgages" to cater for this market.

But there have been large numbers of Muslims living in Britain since the 1970s. Did they not have mortgages? Sure, some may have rented, some may have been wealthy enough to buy outright...but are we really to believe that there was not a single Muslim with an ordinary mortgage from a mainstream UK bank?

I don't buy it. This is an attempt to push a radical agenda, and the more craven the British state becomes, the more the agenda is pushed. It's integration in reverse.

Jim Fitzpatrick has at least made a small stand against this.