Senior Conservative politicians Sajid Javid and Baroness Warsi named as apostates on Isis kill list in ‘Dabiq’ magazine

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Isis has named two senior Conservative politicians on an apparent “kill list” of so-called apostates in the UK.

Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, and Baroness Warsi, the former chair of the party, were identified among American and British Muslims who “directly involve themselves in politics and enforce the laws of [the] kuffar (non-believers)”.

The threat appeared in the latest version of the jihadist group's English-language propaganda magazine, Dabiq, part of the organisation’s attempt to portray a powerful image to an international audience while it suffers military and financial setbacks on the ground.

But while it appears the high-profile figures have been named in a direct attempt to garner publicity, the threat is expected to be taken seriously by the Home Office.

The article, entitled “Kill the imams of the kuffar in the West”, did not suggest it was plotting to attack high-profile American and British Muslims directly.

Rather, it called on its followers in those countries to carry out “wage jihad by himself with the resources available to him (knives, guns, explosives etc) to kill the crusaders and other disbelievers and apostates … to make an example of them”.

Among the “overt crusaders” named alongside Mr Javid and Baroness Warsi was Huma Abedin, the long-time aide to Hillary Clinton and former assistant editor of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs.

Republican Keith Ellison, a Bernie Sanders supporter and the first Muslim to be elected to the US Congress, was also named.

And while Clinton’s campaign has declined to comment on the threats, Mr Ellison issued a statement, using an alternative name for the group, suggesting the fact he was “on Daesh’s bad side” was, if anything, a good thing.

He said: “As millions of faithful Muslims flee Daesh’s imposed nightmare they call a ‘caliphate’, Daesh takes the time to threaten Muslim servants in the West, like myself and my friend Huma Abedin.

“Daesh is a collection of liars, murderers, terrorists and rapists. No Muslim I know recognises what they preach as Al-Islam,” he said.

“The fact that I’m on Daesh’s bad side means I am fighting for things like justice, tolerance and a more inclusive world.”

Isis also used its propaganda magazine to celebrate the Brussels terror attacks, which saw 32 people killed last month in bombings at the city’s airport and a metro station.

It confirmed the identities of the perpetrators, brothers Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui, but there was no mention of the intended fourth suicide bomber, Mohamed Abrini, who is now in police custody after fleeing Brussels Airport and dumping his explosives vest in a bin.

A spokesperson for the Home Office declined to comment on the apparent threat to British nationals on the grounds it was “a matter of national security”.