Former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak (Credit: HM Treasury/Flickr)
Hamed Chapman
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, pledged to widen the definition of extremism to include people who vilify the country under controversial plans during the Conservative leadership hustings to replace Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
Sunak also announced proposals to “refocus” the discredited Prevent extremism program even more towards so-called “Islamist” extremism as the biggest threat to the security of the UK after complaints that it had titled too much towards tackling the growth of right-wing terrorists.
“There is no more important duty for a prime minister than keeping our country and our people safe. Whether redoubling our efforts to tackle Islamist extremism or rooting out those who are vocal in their hatred of our country, I will do whatever it takes to fulfil that duty,” he claimed in his increasing faltering bid to succeed Johnson.
However, Sir Peter Fahy, who headed Prevent from 2010 to 2015, warned against committing thought crimes and vilifying political opinion, despite the fact that the former Chancellor insisted on not outlawing criticism of the government or any of its policies.
“The widening of Prevent could damage its credibility and reputation. It makes it more about people’s thoughts and opinions,” said Fahy, who was also Chief Constable of Greater Manchester police.
“Political opposition is not where police should be, it is those who pose a serious threat and risk of violence, not those opposed to political systems,” he argued. Prevent, launched originally under Labour, has remained a leading part of the Government’s national counter-terrorism strategy, aimed to stop people from becoming terrorists regardless of ideology or cause.
An independent review of the programme was forced upon the government for more than three years, but it has been continually delayed amid ‘whitewash’ accusations and a blanket boycott by human rights groups such as Amnesty International.
Sunak, who has languished far behind Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, in polls of Tory members to be the next party leader, insisted that Britain was “a beacon of freedom, tolerance, and diversity. We must never let those who seek to undermine and destroy our way of life succeed.”
