David Cameron brands Fox News terror expert an 'idiot'

London: An American "counter-terrorism expert" who claimed that Birmingham is a Muslim-only city has been labelled a "complete idiot" by the British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Steve Emerson, a Fox News pundit, made his comments to the news channel in reference to the terror attacks on 'Charlie Hebdo' magazine in Paris last week, claiming that non-Muslims "simply don't go" to Britain's second-largest city.

"Frankly I choked on my porridge and thought it must be April Fool's Day. This guy is clearly a complete idiot," said Cameron.

"He started with an apology. That's not a bad start. But what he should do is to look at Birmingham and see what a fantastic example it is in bringing together people of different faiths and different backgrounds and building a world-class brilliant city with a great and strong economy," he added.

Emerson, who made the claim during a television discussion about no-go zones in Europe where Muslims are apparently in complete control, has since issued a grovelling apology.

"In Britain, it's not just no-go zones, there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don't go in," he said.

Emerson, who describes himself as "an internationally recognised expert on terrorism", did not stop there and added, "Parts of London, there are actually Muslim religious police that actually beat and wound seriously anyone who doesn't dress according to Muslim, religious Muslim attire," he proclaimed, without giving examples.

He described Birmingham as one of a number of European cities "where sharia courts were set up, where Muslim density is very intense, where the police don't go in, and where it's basically a separate country almost, a country within a country."

Disgruntled Brummies, as people from Birmingham are known, took to Twitter to express their disdain for Emerson's characterisation of their city.

Fox News later issued a retraction, pointing out that 21 per cent of Birmingham population is Muslim, with 46.1 per cent identifying themselves as Christians.