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i-Engage disengaged

July 21, 2011 13:26

By

Martin Bright,

Martin Bright

1 min read

A highly organised phalanx of 50 backbench Conservatives rallied this week to vote against using i-Engage, an anti-Zionist Muslim organisation, as the secretariat for the all-party parliamentary group on Islamophobia.

The operation took supporters of i-Engage by surprise, as MPs from all parties voted 60-2 to drop the organisation.

The decisive vote on Monday was hailed as an important victory for common sense by Nick Boles, a close ally of the Prime Minister, who along with Harlow MP Robert Halfon led the opposition to retaining the services of i-Engage.

In February, Kris Hopkins, the Conservative chair of the group, and Labour vice-chair Lord Janner, resigned over the decision to use iEngage.