A Labour peer has demanded an apology from Jim Fitzpatrick, the Farming minister, after Mr Fitzpatrick publicly criticised the segregation of men and women at Muslim weddings.

Lord Patel of Blackburn, a senior figure in Britain’s Muslim community, accused Mr Fitzpatrick of launching a “cowardly attack” on Muslims who opted for a segregated wedding, accusing him of pandering to “anti-Muslim sentiment” within his constituency.

Mr Fitzpatrick angered many Muslims in his east London constituency when he walked out of a ceremony at the London Muslim Centre last week in protest at being split up from his wife. He also gave interviews suggesting that the custom showed a “degree of intolerance” towards guests who may be offended.

But in a scathing attack on his party colleague, Lord Patel said that Mr Fitzpatrick’s stance was merely an attempt to gain votes.

“I suspect Mr Fitzpatrick has one eye on the general election and has mistakenly used this event for political gain,” he said. “He is playing to a section of the voters with whom anti-Muslim sentiment is appealing. This is underhand and dangerous.”

He warned that Mr Fitzpatrick risked creating “alienation and distrust” within his own community by implying that all Muslims in the area must assimilate for reasons of social cohesion.

The bridegroom has also asked for an apology from Mr Fitzpatrick for “hijacking” the ceremony for political gain. Bodrul Islam said he had been “amazed and shocked” by Mr Fitzpatrick’s protest.

Independent, 18 August 2009

“One of these days I’ll hopefully get married and a ceremony is likely to be held at a Sikh Gurdwara (more because my parents will want to have a ceremony there rather than on account of my own religiousness). In a Gurdwara the guys sit on one side and girls sit on the other side, and the bride-groom in the middle. If some MP came and didn’t like it, buggered off, and then sent a press release to all the media going on how about insulting he found it – I wouldn’t speak to that tosser ever….

“I have a suggestion: why don’t Labour MPs ban the practice of British women adopting the surname of their husband once they get married? That’s a pretty unequal situation too and I know plenty of feminists who won’t do it. It’s only right these MPs register their disgust and refuse to stand for it.”

Sunny Hundal at Pickled Politics, 18 August 2009

ENGAGE comments on Jim Fitzpatrick’s shameful walk-out.

A bridegroom has accused Jim Fitzpatrick, the farming minister, of “politically hijacking” his wedding by publicly criticising the traditional Muslim segregation of men and women at the ceremony.

Bodrul Islam said he was “amazed and shocked” that Mr Fitzpatrick had used his wedding to make a political point about radicalisation and social integration. The 28-year-old said it would have been “common courtesy” for his local MP, who left the ceremony after being told he could not sit with his wife, to respect his religion’s customs.

Mr Islam, who is a Labour supporter, is now calling on Mr Fitzpatrick to apologise for the embarrassment he has caused to his family. “Please apologise for the fact you have hijacked an innocent wedding,” he said.

Mr Islam married Mahbuba Kamali, a 24 year-old investment banker, in front of 800 guests at a ceremony held in the London Muslim Centre, next to the East London Mosque, on Sunday. As is common with many Islamic weddings held on mosque premises, the event was segregated with men and women sitting in different rooms.

Mr Fitzpatrick, the MP for Poplar and Canning Town where a third of voters are Muslims, did not know the couple personally but was invited by the bride’s father. When he and his wife Sheila, a GP, were told by someone outside the couples’ families that they would be separated, they left the event.

The wedding party was keen not to offend Mr Fitzgerald so a local Labour councillor rang him up and invited him to come back, saying there was a table where non-Muslims of different sexes could sit together. But instead the minister contacted his local newspaper to tell them he was “disappointed” by what had happened.

Mr Fitpatrick said he had never meant to insult Mr Islam and his family and had left the wedding as discreetly as possible to avoid causing a scene. “My beef is with the IFE and the undue influence they have over the social, cultural and political aspects of the mosque. They are the militants of the 21st century, they are religious zealots with their interpretation of the Koran and I think this has now been exposed.”

Daily Telegraph, 15 August 2009

The Torygraph is facing two ways on this issue. On the one hand, it wants to cause the maximum damage to Jim Fitzpatrick’s prospects in the next general election. On the other hand, it has to cater to the anti-Muslim bigotry of its readership. So this sympathetic coverage of the upset caused to a Muslim couple by Fitzpatrick’s ignorance and stupidity is followed up with an article by Alasdair Palmer headlined “Why must we bow to the intolerant ways of Islam?“