John Reid, the foreign secretary, has defended - in unusually strong terms - a government decision to award a knighthood to Salman Rushdie.
"We have a set of values that accords people honours when they contribute to literature even if we don't agree with their point of view," he said.
"We have to be sensitive to the views of people of religion, people who have very strong views."
"But I think that we all appreciate that in the long run our protection of the right to express your views in literature, argument, politics, is of over-riding political value to our societies."
But would John Reid - now a 60-year old minister on the way out - be so keen to defend Rushdie if he was an up-and-coming young politician?
And if a new young Muslim writer chose to make fun of the Quran and Muhammad in today's post-cartoon climate, how many politicians would leap to his defence?