Sunshine or not, summer in Britain is the cutting season, a particularly grim time for girls in communities of Middle Eastern and north African descent.

There are parents now booking flights with the sole intention of having their daughters “cleansed”— as they euphemistically call it — knowing the probability of their being arrested or charged is next to nil.

Girls as young as four in Britain and Holland, where I used to be an MP, are at risk of having their genitals mutilated. The practice has been illegal in Britain since 1985 and, under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Despite this, an estimated 20,000 girls are in danger. As many as 66,000 women living in