Rummaging around in my website I found this magnificent Islamist forgery that has been doing the global rounds for many years: a letter supposedly from Prime Minister John Major to FCO Minister of State Douglas Hogg urging him to be horrid to the Bosnian Muslims (aka Bosniacs).

Here it is:

Muslims & New World Order_J.Major to D.Hogg blogoir

Once again I want you all to pay careful attention as I show the planet just what a rubbish effort it is.

Sitting up straight? Let’s start.

First, layout. No 10 letters are not scrunched up clumsily on to a single page like this one is (no doubt to save the forger added paper). The substance of a letter does not start on the line immediately below the ‘Dear X’ line.

Form of address:  the address is all wrong at the top of the page. Plus a Prime Minister does not write to fellow Ministers in this way, let alone a Minister of State (ie Junior Minister). A Number 10 Private Secretary will write to the corresponding Minister’s Private Secretary, conveying the PM’s views.

Vocabulary/Grammar: yes, latterly standards have declined in British public life. But back in 1993 things were still done properly. A No 10 letter from that date or any other period will not have indepth as one word, Slovenia spelled as Slovinia, the word Cabinet absurdly in inverted commas, use words like real-politic, have lumpen errors of spacing words, or (alas) refer to a NEW World Order based on a Christian-Civilisation. Dates are not in the form 15.1.93.

Punctuation:  exclamation marks are eschewed, so no zany injunctions to obey Cabinet Responsibility! In English we do not end sentences like this: especially here in the U.K.,

Substance:  this is obviously stupid beyond analysis, including the supposed British ambition of dismembering Bosnia as a possible “ISLAMIC STATE” within Europe. We do not refer to something called the E.C.

And so on.

There are manifold other little inconsistencies and rookie official drafting errors which I won’t reveal, lest I make it too easy for you to do a better job next time.

Let’s be fair. this was before the Internet, so maybe these things are done rather less crudely these days. But this example has been impressive in gaining credence (including by many otherwise normal people and newspapers who should have known better) around the world. It even made it into official witness testimony at the Hague Tribunal.

Anyway, it is hereby definitely once and for all exposed as a ridiculous fake. Done.