“On Sunday morning I will be standing at the war memorial in Newark with a friend, who happens to be Muslim, to lay wreaths to commemorate all the servicemen who fell, including the tens of thousands who died in the two world wars overthrowing tyranny.”

Fellow Tory MP David Davies described Dr Bari’s comments as “extraordinary”.

He said: “If there is a backlash in this country, it will come because of comments like this.

“Britain led the world against Nazi Germany. It is extraordinary that this man should be given a platform for his views and that the Government is affording him respect. 

“The message has to go out that no one invited Muslims into this country – they chose to come here for a better way of life. Anyone who comes here has to learn our language and respect our way of life and traditions.

“There are far too many people who seem to think they do not have to obey our rules but demand that we change our way of life to suit them. It has got to stop.”

War widows gathering for the national remembrance service at the Cenotaph in London also voiced anger. 

Kathleen Woodside, 87, from Liverpool, who helped to found the War Widows Association of Great Britain after her husband Charles was killed on the last day of the war in Italy on March 1, 1945, said: “I am against this kind of talk. 

“It is as if the Muslims want to take us over. The timing could not be more inappropriate.”

Fellow war widow Betty Hall, 83, from Truro, whose husband Bernard served with the RAF, said: “It is a great pity that they have to bring up a subject like that when we are here to remember our loved ones, not to talk about religion.”

The Muslim Council of Britain has long been a source of controversy. It says it represents mainstream Muslims and has long had the ear of Government, despite a row about its decision to boycott Holocaust Memorial Day. 

But a Tory report this year accused it of promoting separation and ignoring the views of the people it claimed to represent.