The Centre For Social Cohesion

After the 7 July bombings, Ramadan was invited to sit on a government taskforce to tackle extremism - even though he had on many occasions defended Islamic suicide attacks against civilians in Israel and the West.

He was however publicly defended from his critics by liberals such as David Goodhart, the editor of Prospect, who wrote in June 2006 that "we need Tariq Ramadan, indeed we need many more Tariq Ramadans, if a true Euro-Islam is to take root."

By 2007, however, many of Ramadan's supporters were tired of his double-speak; his refusal to condemn either Islamic terrorism or the stoning of adulterous women.

In June 2007, Goodhart, disillusioned to find that Ramadan was not the "Muslim Martin Luther" which some had believed, wrote:

"You, I thought, were different. You were modern, confident, educated, in favour of Muslim integration against religious and ethnic balkanisation ... I was wrong about you."

Before coming to the UK, Ramadan, a Swiss national, was based in France where he gained great influence before the French intelllengsia analysed his message and found it wanting.

Caroline Fourest, a French writer who analysed 15 of Tariq Ramadan's books, 1,500 pages of his interviews, and approximately 100 recordings had concluded: "Ramadan is a war leader".

Malek Boutih, the former head of the French antiracism organization SOS Racisme, told Ramadan after talking with him at length: "Mr. Ramadan, you are a fascist".

Ramadan came to the UK promising to bring communities closer together. It will be interesting to see if he will be any more successful in the Netherlands.