By Nick Assinder BBC News Online political correspondent

Former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit has warned that racist attacks could prompt some British Muslims to "be in sympathy, if not with Bin Laden, at least with the idea that America is the great Satan".

In an interview with BBC News Online, he said some Muslims in the UK had failed to integrate into British society.

I think that the international conflict may be used by the thuggish element as an excuse to attack Muslims and that some Muslims will find themselves in sympathy, if not with Bin Laden, at least with the idea that America is the great Satan

Lord Tebbit

He said many had a tendency to sympathise with the views of others in the Muslim world.

And he predicted that attacks on the Muslim community in Britain could encourage them to the view, expressed by Bin Laden, that America was "the great Satan".

"My experience of the Muslim community is that they are not in general a dangerous disloyal faction but that, in some areas, they have found difficulty in integrating into the mainstream of society.

"I think that the international conflict may be used by the thuggish element as an excuse to attack Muslims and that some Muslims will find themselves in sympathy, if not with Bin Laden, at least with the idea that America is the great Satan," he said.

Thatcher speaks for herself

Lord Tebbit, who has previously sparked rows over his claims that multi-cultural societies are often wracked by troubles, said he did not agree with the claims by former Tory leader Baroness Thatcher that Muslim priests had not done enough to condemn the 11 September attacks.

"She speaks for herself. I find that the Muslim leaders are quite clear in their condemnation of the terrorism.

Lord Tebbit disagreed with Lady Thatcher's views

"But, of course, they have a tug of sympathy towards people from the Muslim world."

His words came on the eve of the Tory party conference in Blackpool which, like the other rallies before it, will be dominated by the international crisis.

He offered warm support for the new leader Iain Duncan Smith and predicted it would be a low key conference.

But he also sounded a warning that, unless the Tories addressed the big issues like public services, they could still lose the next election.

Europe an issue

It was always difficult for opposition parties to defeat governments who were performing well and presiding over sound economies, good public services and falling crime rates.

"But if the government is performing poorly and the opposition party is performing more poorly then the opposition could still hold on. That is the lesson of politics," he said.

He accepted that Europe was always going to be an issue within the Tory party.

But he branded the "Euro zealots", led by failed leadership candidate Ken Clarke, as a "dissident minority" who no longer represented the Tory grassroots, or the country as a whole.

"Inevitably there is a small minority who will find it hard to accept that, once again, the party leadership is going to pursue an essential Eurosceptic line.

"They are dissidents. They are in a very small minority but they are there.

In tune

"I think Iain is much more able to put Europe and European policy in context than Ken Clarke would have been able to do.

"It would always have been absolutely at the top of the agenda if Ken had won the election because he would have been campaigning alongside Mr Blair and the Liberal fellow on the Labour party platform against his own party on the European issue.

"Iain, because he is in tune with the great majority of his party and the great majority of the British people on this issue, can say - that is settled, we know where we are on that.

"Of course it is important and of course it will keep coming up, but we can allow ourselves much more time to think about issues such as the collapse of the health service and the progressive deterioration of education, the failure of the government to have a transport policy of any kind - things of that sort," he said.

No split

He also rejected suggestions that the party could be split by the issue of Europe, insisting the leadership election had shown clearly in which direction the party as a whole wanted to go.

"It would not be a split, it would just be a splinter coming off because the Euro zealots are so few in number.

He also dismissed suggestions that Mr Clarke would become a thorn in the new leadership's side.

"I think Ken will probably settle for a quiet life as a smouldering volcano, without actually erupting."

And he offered a personal tribute to Mr Duncan Smith , claiming he had already shown he was not the right-wing "headbanger" portrayed by some.

"Having heard Iain Duncan Smith demonised by some sections of the press and electronic media as being an extreme far right, near-loony headbanger, the public now will have seen him responding to the crisis, and will realise that what they were told about him was profoundly and completely untrue - and that this is a very sober very sensible and very responsible mainstream politician."

He also dismissed claims the new shadow cabinet was too right-wing, declaring: "The shadow cabinet is not particularly right-wing, it is profoundly Eurosceptic which, since the party is profoundly Eurosceptic, is only reasonable."