Although keen to win the Muslim vote, the Conservatives were distancing themselves from one of their own internet ventures yesterday after Mandrake informed them it included material apparently lifted from a website founded by a "hate preacher" banned from Britain.
Officials were trying to contact the man they had employed to create the Conservative Muslim Forum's website to ask why it features chunks of text from IslamOnline, which was established by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who was described as "dangerous and divisive" by David Cameron.
"That particular piece you mention, about charity, was, indeed, lifted from a website, but they can't tell for sure which one," says a spokesman for the Tories. "It is reasonable to assume that it is from the website [IslamOnline]. It should have been attributed."
Al-Qaradawi, who helped set up IslamOnline in 1997, has been banned from America since 1999 and from Britain since 2008 because of his extremist views.
In 2003, he expressed his support for suicide attacks against Israeli civilians, which he called a "necessary Jihad". He is held to be the unofficial leader of the Muslim Brotherhood by a number of informed authorities.
The Conservative Muslim Forum was established in 2005 to increase the Tories' understanding of Muslim issues and encourage Muslim involvement in the party
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