Donald Trump: More British Muslims are joining Isil than the Armed Forces

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to the crowd at town hall meeting Saturday, December 12, 2015 in Aiken, South Carolina. Photo / Getty

Donald Trump has stepped up his war of words with British officials over what he calls the UK's "massive Muslim problem", claiming more British Muslims join Isis than the Armed Forces.

The Republican presidential front-runner has been engaged in a spat with officials after his claim this week that parts of London were so radicalised that police refused to enter and his call for a ban on Muslims entering the US.

A petition to ban Mr Trump from the UK had gathered more than 530,000 signatures by last night (Friday) and the British ambassador to the US broke with diplomatic protocol to join the chorus speaking out against him.

"There is somebody called Donald Trump running in your presidential campaign and he again spoke this morning about the UK, saying that we were busy disguising a massive Muslim problem," Sir Peter Westmacott said. "That's not the way we see it. We are very proud of our Muslim community in the United Kingdom."

He later told The Daily Telegraph: "It's not my job to intervene in domestic issues but, where he [Mr Trump] is talking about my country, it's my job to point out where those comments are in our judgment wrong or unhelpful to the cause of fighting back against this form of terrorism."

The British Government's belief was that "if we are going to see off the threat and ideology of Isil we have to work with our Muslim communities, not push them aside or make them feel alienated," he stressed.

Sir Peter joined David Cameron, who earlier called the proposal to ban Muslims "divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong", and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who said "the only reason I wouldn't go to certain parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump".

Each of these statements has sparked a furious reaction from Mr Trump, who suggested top British officials were "trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem". His claim that more Muslims join Isil than the British Army came in a Twitter post on Thursday night and was accompanied by an article from the National Review, a conservative magazine.

Mr Trump is not the first to make the claim, which arose out of a 2014 statement by the Muslim Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, Khalid Mahmood, that there were around 1500 British jihadists and 560 Muslims in the Armed Forces.

The latest government estimates say that 750 British citizens have gone to Syria to fight, while in 2014 there were 650 Muslims serving across the Armed Forces, primarily in the Army.

But experts note that the figure cited for British fighters represents all individuals who have fought in Syria at any time - with any group, rather than just Isil - and includes around 300 who are believed to have returned or died.

- Daily Telegraph