The proposal comes from the right-wing VVD party, part of the present coalition government. It would apply only to certain listed ethnic groups - Somalis, Egyptians, Sudanese and Eritreans. All girls from these ethnic groups would be registered, and subjected to annual genital inspections, until the age of 18. Parents would be responsible for bringing their daughters to the inspection.

If female circumcision was found at the inspection, the parents would be prosecuted for genital mutilation. Under a parallel change in the law, it would be redefined as a ‘sexual assault on a child’.

However, if parents failed to present the girl at the inspection, they would also be treated as responsible for genital mutilation. They would face the same prosecution and the same penalty - 8 years in jail.

The primary aim of this measure is to frighten potential immigrants from Somalia. When there was no immigration from the Horn of Africa, the VVD never showed any interest in the issue. They don’t show any interest in the fate of other girls in sub-Saharan Africa either, where 1 in 5 girls dies before the age of 5. If the proposal had been presented by a white estate agent in a suit and dark tie - the archetypal VVD member - it would be recognised for what it is, racism.

But instead it was presented by Ayaan Hirsi Ali - an articulate intellectual, an opponent of immigration, an Islam-basher, a woman, and a Somali. Hirsi Ali is the nearest Europe equivalent of the black conservatives in the United States: she is committed to western liberal values, which she believes to be absolutely superior. She never makes any reference to Somali culture or identity, except to denounce it. At the same time, as a member of Parliament in an EU state, she is the most successful woman in the Somali diaspora. For her it is part of a personal crusade against Islam - which led to her life being threatened. Apart for the Prime Minister, she is the only Dutch politician with permanent police protection.

The proposal has once again increased her popularity with Pim Fortuyn’s electorate. For them, she is a politician who breaks the politically correct taboo and bashes the immigrants. They don’t know, and don’t care, about the issue of female circumcision in the Horn of Africa. If Ayaan Hirsi Ali set up her own anti-Islam party, the racist constituency might vote her into office as Prime Minister, black or not. The same homophobic electorate voted for the gay Fortuyn, because he brought the same message: “our culture is superior, no new immigrants, the ones already here must totally assimilate, no multiculturalism, and no Islam”.