A FRONT group for Islamic extremists, which wants to allow British Muslims to fight in Syria, has boasted that it is “negotiating with the Tory and Labour leadership” to secure some of its demands.

Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend) has built links with both parties – and been chosen as an “official partner” by the Electoral Commission for May’s poll – after claiming to promote “democratic engagement” by Muslims. However, it is a facade to win political access and influence for individuals holding extreme, bigoted and anti-democratic views.

In recordings heard by The Sunday Telegraph, Sufyan Ismail, the chief executive of Mend, describes the group’s strategy of acting as “kingmaker” in next month’s election and claims it can control as many as 30 seats.

One Tory candidate in a winnable seat was repeatedly approached by a well-known Muslim figure offering large sums of money for his campaign if he signed up to Mend’s “Muslim manifesto”.

The manifesto launch last month in Parliament was attended by at least 10 Labour and Conservative MPs, though there is no evidence any of them were paid by Mend. Lynton Crosby, the Conservative campaign director, and shadow Labour ministers have attended Mend events.

Mend’s director of engage- ment, Azad Ali, is an extremist who has supported the killing of British troops, praised the al-Qaeda ideologue Anwar alAwlaki and said that “no one” agreed with democracy “at the expense of not implementing the Sharia”. Mend is holding a series of events this weekend with other extremist, antidemocratic speakers and has close links with Cage, the proterrorist lobby group.

In a talk seen by The Sunday Telegraph at the Zakariyya Central Mosque in Bolton, Mr Ismail said a strong performance by the group’s chosen candidates could make it easier for Britons to fight in Syria.

“David Cameron recently said that British Jews fighting for the IDF [Israeli army] will not be prosecuted,” Mr Ismail said. “But British Muslims going to Syria fighting against Assad… will definitely face interrogation. Do you think that if we landed those 20 or 30 seats, he would have the audacity to say that to the Muslim community? Not a chance.”

Mr Ismail also claimed that British society “hates us” and that the law specifically allowed violence against Muslims. “It’s not a crime to use violent or threatening words or behaviour [against Muslims],” he said. “It’s perfectly OK under UK law to hate Islam and Muslims. It’s not a problem…that’s why women are getting their hijabs ripped off.”

Last year, there were 550 prosecutions for religiously aggravated hate crime – most of it anti-Muslim – and hundreds more for anti-Muslim crimes under standard assault and vandalism laws.

Mr Ismail claimed that a 2013 arson attack which destroyed a Muslim community centre in Muswell Hill had been condoned, saying: “Did you hear one politician condemn it? Even one? When was the last time you saw a church burnt to the ground – I bet you can’t think of one.”

The attack was widely condemned by politicians of all parties, including Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, who described it as “cowardly” and “pathetic”, Theresa Villiers, the Northern Ireland secretary and local MP, who called it “despicable” and “an attack on all of us” and Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, who said it was a “hate crime”. At least a dozen churches or church buildings have been burnt to the ground in attacks in recent years, and many others badly damaged.

Mr Ismail also claimed that there were “500 physical attacks” on Muslims, “mainly women”, in London in 2013. This was the total number of alleged Islamophobic crimes reported to police that year, the majority of which were not physical attacks on people.

The demand for the legalisation of fighting in Syria does not appear in Mend’s “Muslim manifesto”. But the manifesto does demand that Whitehall builds more links – cut during the Coalition government – with non-violent Islamists. It also says that “insulting” Islam should be made a criminal offence.

Mend strongly supports Cage and has held joint meetings with it, including in Manchester last November. In a talk at a mosque in Cheadle, Cheshire, Mr Ismail said Cage and another group linked to Syrian jihadists, IERA, “do a really good job”.

A key speaker on Mend’s election tour, which began yesterday, is Abu Eesa Niamatullah, an extremist who opposes democracy and stated that “the Creator is the one who should decide what the laws should be”.

The group also promotes Haitham al-Haddad, a hate preacher who has described democracy as “filthy” and said that “all the kuffar [an insulting term for non-Muslims] will go to hellfire”.

Baroness Warsi, the former Tory chairman, was billed to speak alongside Mr Niamatullah and Mr Ismail at a Mend meeting in Manchester, though she claimed she would be speaking alone.

Mr Ismail, a tax avoidance consultant worth a reported £65million, told the Bolton meeting how the group had organised to “batter the Israeli lobby” in the Commons.

Referring to the election, he said: “Right now, we are negotiating with the Labour leadership, we are negotiating with the Tory leadership, and insh’allah [God willing], will start with the Lib Dem leadership as well – where we have a list of manifesto pledges.

“The Muslim vote is worth 10 ordinaryvotes because…we are heavily concentrated in a few areas,” he said. “Anybody who can give any one party 10, 20, 30 seats, like we can, they have to listen to you.”

Tory sources said Mr Crosby wanted nothing further to do with Mend and did not know why the group was approved to hold a fringe meeting. The party did not respond to questions about Mend’s claim to be in “negotiations” with its leadership.

A Labour spokesman denied any negotiation, saying: “We receive submissions and requests from hundreds of organisations, but it is completely wrong to suggest Mend has any influence over Labour’s manifesto process.” Sources conceded that Mend probably had met shadow ministers informally at the party conference.