Sadiq Khan explains why he signed that letter

There's an interesting article in today's Guardian, which says the Muslim MPs that signed the "do what the terrorists say" letter over the weekend are going to warn John Prescott that they should not be treated as "patsies" to defend unpopular foreign policies. The Labour MP for Tooting, Sadiq Khan is quoted as saying:

"It is foolish to suggest or even expect us to go around defending government policy that is extremely unpopular in Muslim communities. We just would not have any credibility in trying to sort out the problems we are facing."

Wouldn't it have been easier for him to say "This will lose me votes and my seat is a marginal"? Less words, same meaning.

I notice also that Shahid Malik MP has a comment piece in The Times which basically says he was never suggesting the Government should change it's foreign policy [you were] which is then followed by a big long "but" section.