As William Dalrymple observed back in 2004: “There are few things, you would imagine, that … Denis MacShane, Margaret Thatcher, the British National Party and the daytime television host Robert Kilroy-Silk would all agree on. Nevertheless … a deep disdain for Islam is one subject on which they can all concur whole-heartedly.”

Everything MacShane has said or done since then only reinforces the accuracy of Dalrymple’s assessment, and his article in (appropriately enough) today’s Torygraph is no exception.

As for MacShane’s blanket condemnation of “Islamism”, we’re getting a bit weary of refuting this particular stupidity, and so refer readers to an earlier reply to Johann Hari. And as we’ve also pointed out: “Along with references to ‘Eurabia’ and Bat Ye’or, it’s always a sign that Islamophobia has reached the point of total dementia when a commentator launches into a diatribe against Tariq Ramadan.”

So it hardly comes as a surprise that MacShane does just that. “Islamist” is the appropriate word for Al-Qaida-inspired terrorists he tells us, and Professor Ramadan is an advocate of Islamism. Which of course obliterates the not entirely irrelevant distinction between terrorism and one of its most vocal opponents within the Muslim communities. The irresponsibility of this nonsense beggars description.