For many years, the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Tariq Ramadan, has been one of my closest enemies. In Switzerland and France this Islamist dauphin had a slightly hard time establishing his reputation. This was not just due to his poor scholarship (the basis of which lay in a fawning book about his grandad) but also to his double-speak in public debate and (at best) borderline Islamist views. In France these views were most famously exposed in a television debate with Nicolas Sarkozy in which Ramadan infamously could not bring himself to condemn the stoning of adulterers outright, merely calling for a ‘moratorium’ on the punishment.
In Britain, Ramadan had an easier ride – one greased for him by St Anthony’s College Oxford, various departments of government and a range of people in prominent positions who decided that Ramadan was just the sort of Muslim leader Britain needed. Needless to say, I diverged from this view and for years (most recently in Cambridge earlier this year) found myself opposing Ramadan in studios and debating forums.
