What the UK Muslim Brotherhood Review actually says
In April 2014 the British Prime Minister commissioned two of the country’s most senior civil servants — Sir John Jenkins, then HM Ambassador to Riyadh, and Charles Farr, then Director General of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism — to review the Muslim Brotherhood: its ideology, its record, and its activities in the UK and abroad (paras. 1, 4). The main findings were laid before Parliament in December 2015. The document rewards reading in full; it is eleven pages. Here is what it actually says.
On the founding doctrine
“The founder and first Supreme Guide (spiritual leader), Hassan al Banna, called for the religious reformation of individual Muslims, the progressive moral purification of Muslim societies and their eventual political unification in a Caliphate under sharia law.”
para. 8
On violence
The review’s treatment is careful — it found “a complex and situational relationship” with violence (para. 16), and its summary sentence holds both halves:
“the Muslim Brotherhood have preferred non violent incremental change on the grounds of expediency … But they are prepared to countenance violence – including, from time to time, terrorism - where gradualism is ineffective.”
para. 17
And it weighed the movement’s own submission against the record:
“Sir John concluded that it was not possible to reconcile these views with the claim made by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in their evidence to the review that ‘the Muslim Brotherhood has consistently adhered to peaceful means of opposition, renouncing all forms of violence throughout its existence’.”
para. 18
On Hamas
“The Hamas founding charter claims they are the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Muslim Brotherhood treat them as such. In the past ten years support for Hamas (including in particular funding) has been an important priority for the MB in Egypt and the MB international network.”
para. 14 — the charter itself is in the register: Article Two of the 1988 Covenant.
What cuts the other way
An archive that hides inconvenient paragraphs is not an archive. The review also records:
“The Muslim Brotherhood has not been linked to terrorist related activity in and against the UK. The Muslim Brotherhood in the UK (eg MAB) has often condemned terrorist related activity in the UK associated with al Qai’da.”
para. 36
Both facts stand together in the same document: no linkage to terrorism inside the UK — and, at the same time, open support at all levels for Hamas attacks elsewhere (para. 37).
The conclusion the government reached
“aspects of Muslim Brotherhood ideology and tactics, in this country and overseas, are contrary to our values and have been contrary to our national interests and our national security.”
para. 39, final conclusion
That sentence was written by the British government, laid before its parliament, and remains public record. Nothing in this post goes beyond the document; every quote above can be checked against the PDF in one click.