Bobby Jindal claims London has Muslim-only 'no-go zones,' meets skepticism

(Image credit: AP Photo)

published 20 January 2015

In London on Monday, during a 10-day trip to Europe, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) gave a talk on Islamic extremism to the conservative Henry Jackson Society. He discussed, among other things, "no-go zones" in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe where Muslims allegedly administer their own law, and police and non-Muslims don't enter.

This particular topic had just embarrassed Fox News, which apologized multiple times on Sunday for a guest's unchallenged claim that the entire city of Birmingham is a Muslim-only "no-go zone." Among people who found that claim risible was British Prime Minister David Cameron, who called Fox's terrorism "expert" "a complete idiot" and said that "when I heard this, frankly, I choked on my porridge and I thought it must be April Fools Day."

Undeterred, Jindal stood by his comments about "no-go zones" in London, and said "the radical left absolutely wants to pretend like this problem is not here," in an interview with skeptical London-based CNN reporter Max Foster:

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In this Monday night follow-up interview, with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Jindal stood by his "no-go zones" comments, citing meetings with unidentified "elected officials" and an article in Monday's Daily Mail that had "a local police chief admit there are no-go zones here in London." (Jindal is apparently talking about this article from a year ago, featuring Tom Winsor, elected Chief Inspector of Constubulary; the Daily Mail calls him the "first person from a non-police background to hold the post," and notes that "senior police officers said they disagreed with the description given by Mr. Windsor.") Watch below. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.