Mr Ahmed said he was not responsible for the behaviour of the Newham People’s Alliance. He said they were a “very loose group, a group of guys we grew up with who asked us to help them out at the planning inquiry. Tablighi Jamaat have never been linked to any sort of extremism and we have got to be careful not to alienate them from mainstream discourse.” He said he and Unitas had not been paid by the sect or anyone else.