“Islamist groups first identified Britain’s universities as a fertile recruiting ground more almost two decades ago. They followed the example set by the far-left, which had been hugely successful in the 1980s in attracting young people with impressionable minds to simplistic utopian ideologies….

“Student unions and vice-chancellors have made various attempts to tackle the problem but have always held back from really dealing with it because they fear being accused of Islamophobia. The radical groups have continued to organise and indoctrinate, often under false names, and have found the process increasingly easy in the climate of anger surrounding the Iraq war.

“Jewish students at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London have complained of fears for their personal safety because of the pronouncements of some fellow students. Members of student Islamic societies have been among those arrested and charged in recent counter-terrorist operations. Campus radicalism persists and is spreading. Mere ‘guidance’ from mandarins in the DfES is unlikely to stop it spreading.”

Sean O’Neill in the Times, 17 November 2006