Nearly 400 years have gone by since Guy Fawkes and his cronies tried to blow up parliament.

It was to be a dramatic protest against anti-Catholic laws.

Captured in a cellar beneath the House of Lords, Fawkes was savagely tortured to make him reveal the names of his fellow conspirators.

The following year, 1606, they were all hanged for what was properly judged an act of treason.

Forgive the history lesson, but there is a point to it. Guy Fawkes would never have conceded it was an act of treason, nor that he was a traitor.

As a man who had once enlisted in the Spanish army to fight the Catholic cause, he was devout enough to put his religion before his country.

Fascinating, isn't it, how historical events resonate down the centuries.

Today it is a radical minority of Muslims who are putting their religion before their country and who are prepared to defy its laws to support Islamic brethren in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Some are actively supporting terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Some are recruiting for the Taliban and some have gone to fight for them.

There is no moral difference between such activities and joining the Germans in the Second World War, the Argentinians in the Falklands or the Iraquis in the Gulf war. Treachery and treason are precisely that.

But unlike Guy Fawkes, none of these men will ever be tortured or hung - not in Britain. High treason was the last capital offence to be removed from the statute book three years ago.

It still carries a life sentence though.

If the government could find the courage to do something about it, it has the tools. There are ways of using anti terrorist legislation, the Treachery Act, the Terrorism Act and even sedition charges which could be brought under common law.

However, there are questions to be asked. Why do so many Muslim militants who are second or third generation British, hate this country with such vehemence?

Why do they have no loyalty for their adopted country that has given them so much? With such resentment festering inside them, why do they want to live here at all?

The hard truth is that those who feel they cannot be loyal to Britain now should leave the country. There is no room for equivocation on this.

And before you leap up to accuse me of gross Norman Tebbitism, I should point out that those two sentences are the words of the respected chairman of the Federation of Muslim Organisations in Leicester, Manzoor Moghal.

Mr Moghal also dismisses the belief that Britain cannot demand allegiance from Muslims.

The misconception is based on a misunderstanding about the faith.

In fact, he says, Islam requires that Muslims show loyalty towards the country in which they live. There should be no conflict between patriotism and faith.

Britain should have the unfettered right to deal decisively with traitors within its midst.