Cleric clanger

To recap, this sorry saga should have been ended in 2003 when David Blunkett, the Sheffield MP and the then Home Secretary, belatedly started proceedings to strip Hamaza of his British passport. This should have been the end of the matter. If only. Countless delays enabled the Egyptian authorities, in the meantime, to terminate Hamza's citizenship, although the legitimacy of this decision is disputed by the Home Office.

The upshot was a perverse ruling enabling Hamza to keep his UK passport to avoid being rendered "stateless" because he is no longer welcome in his country of birth.

Many will be incredulous that Britain has been left powerless to act against a loathsome cleric jailed for seven years for inciting murder and race hate.

The insults to law-abiding UK taxpayers do not end here. Hamza, who preached at the infamous Finsbury Park Mosque, received legal aid, meaning taxpayers funded an appeal which runs counter to public opinion, common sense or human decency. And, if that's not sufficient, the one-armed cleric is using public funds to prolong his ongoing fight against extradition to America to face a raft of serious terror charges.

The Home Office is right when it says British nationality is a privilege, but three questions remain. How did this happen? How can it be prevented? And what happens to Hamza now? Either way, he's not welcome here – even if he's still milking the taxpayers' generosity while behind bars at the high-security Belmarsh Prison.