WHEN you are chairman of your party’s international office and its human rights commission and a member of the all- party parliamentary Friends of Islam group, it might be advisable to swot up on what is happening in the Middle East.

However, constituents of Gary Streeter, the Tory MP for South West Devon, must hope that he knows more about Dartmoor than he does about the Muslim world.

Streeter, who once started his own non-denominational church in Plymouth Dockyard in protest at the presence of a clairvoyant and a shop displaying tarot cards, confessed last week he did not know the difference between a Sunni and a Shi’ite.

He was one of 30 Middle East “experts” from the world of politics put on the rack over Iraq, Iran and other countries in the region by The Sunday Times.

Streeter, once private secretary to John Major, the former prime minister, also failed to identify Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of Iran.

He was not alone. Many of those quizzed did not know their Hamas from their Hezbollah.

Both Sarah Teather, the Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East, and Sally Keeble, Labour member for Northampton North, thought Hezbollah was an organisation based in Palestine.

Anne Milton, the Tory MP for Guildford, wears the dunce’s cap after getting 13 out of 14 questions wrong. It even slipped her mind that she was a member of the Friends of Islam group. “Ooh, am I?” she said. “Oh yes, I suppose so. I forgot. I don’t think I’ve sat on it yet.”

Gordon Marsden, the Labour MP for Blackpool South and treasurer for the British Lebanon all-party parliamentary group, did not know who the leader of Hezbollah was.

Asked if Al-Qaeda was Sunni or Sh’ite, Brian Iddon, Labour MP for Bolton South East and secretary of the Britain-Palestine parliamentary group, said: “Well, it attracts all sorts.”

Top honours went to Phyllis Starkey, Labour MP for Milton Keynes South West, and Andrew Rosindell, Tory MP for Romford, who both got all but one of the answers correct. Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, would have joined them but failed to name the president of Iran.

The survey mirrors similar questions posed to politicians in Washington. Jeff Stein, a columnist on Congressional Quarterly, asked Silvestro Reyes, a congressman chosen to chair the House intelligence committee in the new Democrat administration, whether the followers of Osama Bin Laden were Sunnis or Shi’ites. Reyes guessed wrongly that they were primarily Shi’ites. Stein found that Republican politicians were equally flummoxed.

Stein said: “It’s been five years since these Muslim extremists flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center. Is it too much to ask that our intelligence overseers know who they are?”

Glen Rangwala, a lecturer in politics at Cambridge University, who provided the correct answers to The Sunday Times survey, said: “All these questions relate to matters that are going to concern the central issues of British foreign policy over the coming years. If they don’t know the basics then we are in a dangerous situation.”

Ali Ansari, director of the British Institute of Persian Studies at St Andrews University, said: “When you are making decisions about life and death, war and peace, it behoves our representatives to brush up a bit on aspects on the Middle East.

“When it comes to the opposition parties, I really would expect them to have more of a handle of the issues.

“Anthony Eden, for all his woes, did have a first in oriental studies from Oxford. He spoke Persian and Arabic fluently. I have to say I think our politicians from 50 years ago were probably a more worldly aware bunch than now.”

Yesterday Streeter was unrepentant. He gave up the quiz after failing the first three questions. “I said I did not want to take part,” he said. “I did not say I did not know who the president of Iran was. I said President President. It was a joke à la Bush. It is not the proper role for journalists to try to be our judge and jury but to get on with the news.”

How would you have fared?

Questions:

1. What’s the difference between a Sunni and a Shi’ite?

2. Can you name the president and prime minister of Iraq?

3. Is Al-Qaeda Sunni or Shi’ite?

4. Can you name Osama Bin Laden’s deputy?

5. Can you name the president of Iranb?

6. Is Hezbollah Sunni or Shi’ite?

7. Can you name its leader?

Answers:

1. The distinction goes back to a dispute over who had spiritual authority over the Muslim community after the death of the prophet Muhammad. Shi’ite Muslims believe that authority was vested in his family; the Sunnis look to the sayings and actions of Muhammad as well as the Koran.

2. The president is Jalal Talabani, the prime minister is Nouri al-Maliki.

3. Exclusively Sunni.

4. Ayman al-Zawahiri.

5. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

6. Overwhelmingly Shi’ite.

7. Hassan Nasrallah.

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