MICHAEL HOWARD predicted that at least two Muslim Tories would become MPs in the coming election as the battle for ethnic minority votes intensified yesterday.

His party has no Muslims in the Commons, but the Conservative Leader said that, with ten, it had the highest ever number of Muslim candidates, compared with seven for Labour.

In one seat, Labour-held Dewsbury, Muslims from the two main parties will vie for the right to succeed Ann Taylor, the retiring former Leader of the Commons, who had a 7,449 majority in 2001.

Mr Howard’s speech to the Conservative Muslim Forum followed a row this month over a Labour minister’s article in Muslim Weekly warning against voting for the Tory Leader. The Tories complained of anti-Semitism to the Commission for Racial Equality after Mike O’Brien, the Energy Minister, called Mr Howard’s commitment to Muslims and a Palestinian state into question.

Mr Howard said last night that his values were the same as Muslim values: tough on crime and taxes, in favour of decent schools and opportunity based on merit alone. He said: “There are many natural ties, of friendship, common outlook and shared values that unite the Muslim community and the Conservative Party.

“I believe we share a commitment to the integrity of the family. A respect for the wisdom of tradition. An opposition to the drugs culture, social breakdown and crime . . . and a desire for peace across the globe.”

The Conservatives have chosen 30 ethnic minority candidates so far.

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