Britain's Tony Blair stressed on Sunday the need to keep the Muslim community on side as a leaked document revealed a project to "win the hearts and minds" of Islamic extremists and al Qaeda sympathisers.
The government project codenamed "Contest", which was leaked to the Sunday Times newspaper, suggested Britain might be harbouring as many as 10,000 al Qaeda supporters.
Blair said al Qaeda group members were living in Britain, as they were in every European country, but he could not say how many there were in Britain.
"They pose a threat, a serious threat to us all. It's a constant danger," Blair told BBC Television.
Blair did not refer directly to the Sunday Times report, but he said: "We need to try and make sure that in our own country we're in proper dialogue with the Muslim community.
"The leaders of that community are very responsible people, but they are under enormous pressure from those within their ranks who say - it's only a very, very small minority - but who push this extremist line," he added.
This week British police arrested hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri on an extradition order from the United States, which wants him on terror charges. Abu Hamza preached a radical message from a north London mosque and openly supported Osama bin Laden.
Moderate Muslim preachers would receive state funding under the plan, while radical foreign scholars would be asked to pledge allegiance to the British way of life or face a ban, the paper said, claiming to have seen over 100 pages of secret documents.
"The aim is to prevent terrorism by tackling its underlying causes...to diminish support for terrorists by influencing relevant social and economic issues," cabinet secretary Sir Andrew Turnbull was quoted as saying in a letter prior to a May 19 meeting to discuss "Contest".
The project is said to have been prompted by the March 11 attacks on Madrid commuter trains, killing 191 people, and the discovery of over half a ton of bomb-making material in a London warehouse two weeks later.
"Muslim-friendly workplaces" could be set up, along with moderate Muslim television and radio stations.
In a note to the Home Office, Turnbull called for a blueprint to win "the hearts and minds" of Muslim youth.
"Al Qaeda and its offshoots provide a dramatic pole of attraction for the most disaffected," he wrote. "The broader task is to address the roots of the problem, which include discrimination, disadvantage and exclusion suffered by many Muslim communities. "More than half of Britain's working-age Muslims do not have jobs, while 16 percent of them have never worked or are long-term unemployed - five times the national average, according to a Home Office audit cited at the May 19 meeting.
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