 The British Foreign Office has denied media reports that its diplomats have been encouraged to establish ties with Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood. The New Statesman weekly on Thursday gave details of a leaked 17 January Foreign office memo which recommends forging closer ties with the Brotherhood, the oldest Islamic group in the world, and Egypt's biggest opposition force. A Foreign Office spokesman said Friday the only direct contact his government had was with independent parliament members, without denying that these could include Brotherhood sympathisers. "We are never going to comment on a leaked document," the spokesman said on Friday. "But we do not talk directly to the Muslim Brotherhood." |