Some time ago Tony Blair appointed Lord Ahmed as Britain’s first Muslim member of the House of Lords. Here, according to the London Evening Standard is how that peer has now described the decision to knight Rushdie:

Two weeks ago the Prime Minister was calling for building relations between the Muslim world and Britain, then suddenly this knighthood is given to a man who has not only been abusive to Muslims, but also to Christians – because he used abusive language towards Jesus Christ…This man not only provoked violence around the world because of his writings, but there were many people who were killed around the world…Forgiving and forgetting is one thing, but honouring the man who has blood on his hands, sort of, because of what he did, I think is going a bit too far.

Ahmed’s comments, crass as they are, are, in their own bigoted way, quite fascinating. There’s the suggestion that Rushdie “provoked” violence, there’s the suggestion that the writer has (“sort of”) blood on his hands, and, above all, there’s the suggestion that the feelings of religious believers merit some special protection.

That such a man sits in the House of Lords is a disgrace to the British parliament. That such a man was put there by Tony Blair is absolutely no surprise.