Earlier this week, Inayat “Mr Bean” Bunglawala’s Engage wrote a characteristically stupid piece libelling Martin Bright under the headline:
“Veteran Islamophobe Martin Bright criticises MCB libel win”.
Martin was rightly upset with that slur observing:
“I object in the strongest terms to the way the insult “Islamophobe” is thrown around so casually. It is essentially a charge of racism: the cheapest of shots and utterly without foundation”.
He was much too kind. The charge was not just without foundation – it was an outright lie. At the Observer, Martin mentored the headscarf wearing Fareen Alam. And, while he was Political Editor at the New Statesman regularly gave a voice to newly emerging Muslim voices including: Ed Husain, Shiraz Maher, and ‘Umm Mustafa’ (a pseudonym).
The Engage article nonetheless made a number of lazy accusations, one of which said:
“Bright himself is no stranger to making allegations against the MCB that play cavalier with the truth.”
This assertion was entirely unsubstantiated.
It had to be, because there is no evidence to support it. What really annoyed the bungling Bungles was that Martin exposed the Muslim Council of Britain in a series of sensational scoups based on leaked documents from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. His revelations lead to a shift in government policy resulting, in part, with the MCB losing favour with ministers. So, how could Engage claim that Bright was playing ‘cavalier with the truth’?
Well, they couldn’t. Instead, the accusation was quietly watered down, now saying:
“Bright himself is no stranger to making controversial allegations about the Qur’an, Muslims and the MCB”.
They also thought it would be wise to drop the rediculous charge of ‘Islamophobia’, changing the title of their article to:
“Martin ‘The Great Koran Con Trick’ Bright criticises MCB libel win”.
This is a glaring admission of guilt by Engage. Notably, however, they haven’t bothered to apologise to Martin. He should really insist on one, particularly as the bungling Bungles loves to sue and always insists on receiving an apology.
He should really be much more careful in future.