A man came to America, he was an Iraqi, he had helped US forces, he was a translator—he was denied entry. In the end, he came and he was denied entry. What kind of message does that give, that, where people help US forces in the fight against Islamist terrorism, they are then dropped as a result of the help that they give? He cannot surely defend that. He cannot surely defend a policy where people who are permanent residents of the US, green-card holders, were also turned away because no-one understood what the regulations actually meant. It’s not if they’re temporary or not—wrong is wrong at the end of the day. People were turned away, they were not allowed—. An Iranian vet was not allowed transit through the USA on her way home to Glasgow from San José in Costa Rica. How does he—? Is she a terrorist? How does he defend that?

The reality is that we must be very careful not to give the impression, which plays into the hands of ISIL, that this is a clash of religions. ‘What do you expect the US to do apart from this?’ Then he said—it wasn’t heard on the microphone, but I heard him—he said, ‘What about the twin towers?’, he said. Can I remind him that none of those involved in the twin towers atrocity, which is what it was, came from those countries? They came from other countries that are not included on this list. Why? Why is that? No rational explanation has been given for that.

We have to remember as well two things. One of our biggest allies is Turkey, itself an Islamic country. Secondly, in order to win the battle against ISIL on the ground, you need Iranian ground troops to do it. The last thing you should be doing is creating a problem with the very country—you may not agree with many of the things that go on there—you are relying on to defeat an evil organisation like ISIL.

At the heart of it is, I think, a complete misunderstanding about Islam. Shia and Sunni Muslims have been killing each other in many countries for many years. The impression that’s given is that there are some people who seem to take the view that somehow Islam is all the same religion. [Interruption.] Well, I can tell him. I can tell him this: it wasn’t that long ago when the main security threat to the UK came from Catholics. So, does that mean that Catholics should have been vetted as they entered the UK? Could I remind him that Christians were killing each other in Northern Ireland for 25 years? Could I remind him that people calling themselves Christians were beheading women and children on bridges over rivers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that there were massacres taking place in places like Srebrenica?

We cannot say that any religion has a monopoly on evil, but what I do hope is the US regains its ability to see sense.