The British Council has sacked its press officer Harry Cummins after it emerged he had indeed written a series of offensive articles in the Sunday Telegraph about Islam and Muslims.

The organisation had suspended him earlier this month and an investigation was launched when it was suspected he had written them under the pseudonym Will Cummins.

A spokesman for the British Council said: "Following allegations that a British Council employee had written a series of articles in the Sunday Telegraph offensive to Islam, an investigation has been carried out and a British Council officer has been dismissed."

The incident has been a source of embarassment for the British Council since it conducts numerous activities internationally with Arab countries. Assistant Director-General Rod Pryde wrote to AiM earlier emphasising that the views expressed in the Telegraph articles were in direct contrast to what the organisation stood for.

He said: "All of us who work for the British Council are appalled that our organisation should in any way be associated with the deeply offensive content of these articles. The British Council disassociates itself completely from the sentiments expressed by Will Cummins."

"The purpose of the British Council is to build mutually beneficial relationships between people in the UK and other countries on the basis of trust and mutual understanding. We have worked closely and successfully for many years with the Muslim community in the UK and around the world to build mutual understanding between people from different cultural backgrounds and we will continue to do so."

Muslim groups are now pressing the Telegraph Group to take action against the editor of the Sunday Telegraph Dominic Lawson.