The real reason behind the suppression of the Danish cartoons is becoming appallingly clear, as a British political magazine publishes and then un-publishes them: Political magazine pulls cartoon after police warning.

The reason is fear.

Politics magazine the Liberal has followed the Spectator in publishing then hastily withdrawing from its website one of the controversial Danish cartoons featuring the prophet Muhammad.

The independent title, which played a prominent role in the campaign to oust former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy by organising a petition, yesterday published a cartoon on its website alongside an editorial calling for free speech.

Senior police officers at Scotland Yard warned the magazine its staff could not be guaranteed protection from possible protests, after which the cartoon was pulled from the Liberal’s website and replaced by a large white square with the word “censored” placed over it.

Following the withdrawal of the cartoon, Ben Ramm, the magazine’s editor, announced on the website: “Despite our wishes and convictions, for reasons of safety the magazine will no longer carry the cartoon itself.”

In an earlier online editorial accompanying the publication of the cartoon, Mr Ramm had taken a strong line in support of free speech. “[The Liberal] will not be coerced into self-censorship by the threat of violence from those who use a platform of free speech to call for the destruction of the very system that enfranchises them,” he wrote.