Sajid Javid is the beacon of tolerant Britain and is ready to deliver anti-extremism narrative
TOMORROW marks the anniversary of the London Bridge terrorist attack.
It was part of a horrific three months which saw PC Keith Palmer murdered outside the House of Commons, the Manchester Arena bombing and a van attack on Finsbury Park Mosque.
Thankfully, the pace of these attacks has not been kept up.
There has been a period of relative calm, with the security services successfully thwarting several plots. But it would be dangerous to think the threat has gone away — it has not.
Next week, the Government will launch the latest version of its counter-terrorism strategy, Contest. It will also introduce a new bill to ensure longer prison sentences for terrorists and to make it easier to try returning ISIS fighters for offences in Iraq and Syria.
The counter-terrorism strategy will see more resources for the Prevent programme in high-priority areas such as London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bradford.
There are plans, too, to recruit more than 1,000 extra staff to the security services so a greater number of suspects can be kept under close surveillance at any one time.
There will be steps taken to ensure that those released from prison are monitored more closely once they have been let out. There will also be a fresh push to get tech companies to do more to combat terrorist material online.
But perhaps the most powerful thing about this strategy is the Home Secretary introducing it.
Sajid Javid is a walking rejection of the extremists’ argument that Britain is inherently prejudiced against Muslims. He shows that Muslims can succeed in this country, rising to positions of power and prominence.
This counter-terror strategy is very much focused on the operational side of things, how to catch terrorists before they strike. But I understand that Javid is keen for the Government to do more work on countering extremism.
He understands that if you stop young people from accepting the extremists’ narrative, then they won’t turn into terrorists.
Javid is uniquely well-placed to take on this extremist narrative. It is far harder for critics to accuse him of being Islamophobic and the like when he talks about why the constant, anti-Western grievance narrative that is pumped out by a few Muslim preachers is wrong — and unhealthy.
When, as Communities Secretary, Javid argued that immigrants needed to learn English if they are to play a full role in society, he showed he is not afraid to take on difficult issues. One friend of his says that he will be the same on extremism, telling me “he won’t accept any excuses”.
However good and well- resourced your security services are, the terrorists will always get lucky once or twice.
The challenge, then, is to ensure that almost no one in your country is attracted to the terrorists, their warped world view and erroneous interpretation of Islam. The best way to ensure that kids don’t fall for this nonsense is to show them that this country is an open, tolerant place where people of all faiths can succeed.
Few politicians are better equipped to deliver that message than Javid, the first Muslim to hold one of the great offices of state. He must be given the opportunity to deliver this message loud and clear.
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Hunt playing long game with NHS
NEXT week, Jeremy Hunt becomes the longest serving Health Secretary in history.
He has already beaten the tenure of Nye Bevan, the Labour Health Secretary who founded the National Health Service, and on Monday he’ll go past Norman Fowler’s record.
Hunt’s achievement is a remarkable feat of political survival, and one that few would have predicted when David Cameron appointed him to the job back in 2012.
But the amount of time he’s spent in the job is also key to understanding why Hunt is fighting with the Treasury for a big, long-term funding plan for the NHS that extends well beyond the date of the next General Election. Hunt’s argument to colleagues is that this plan is needed because you “can’t do really big change hand to mouth”.
At the moment, spending on projects that could transform the NHS keeps being raided to get hospitals through the day.
Hunt points out that there will be a million more over-75s in a decade’s time and that the NHS needs to start preparing for that well in advance. Hunt has turned down other Cabinet jobs to stay as Health Secretary. But once he has got a long-term funding plan for the service agreed, I suspect his ambitions mean that he would take a big promotion if it was offered to him.
Britain could soon find itself in a trade war
THE G7 summit next week will be dominated by the threat of a global trade war.
Theresa May must do her best to calm tensions and make Donald Trump see how self-defeating his actions are.
But if the EU and the US are about to embark on round after round of retaliatory tariffs, Britain must make sure it is not in a customs union with the EU.
For in these circumstances, Britain would find itself caught in the middle of a trade war but with no say over how it was being fought.
Runway 3 won't be enough
ON Tuesday, Chris Grayling will put the National Planning Statement for a third runway at Heathrow to the Commons.
MPs will then have up to three weeks to digest the information in it before voting on the proposal.
I understand that the Government is likely to offer its side a free vote on the matter to allow the likes of Boris Johnson to oppose it without having to resign from the Government.
However, I am told that he’ll be informed that he can only do local media appearances explaining why he’s against it.
But even after MPs have voted on the proposal, it will still be at least another year before shovels go into the ground.
The big problem with the third runway at Heathrow is that it is only a temporary solution – it will be full almost as soon as it is built.
Given how long it takes to get a new runway approved, the Government should start thinking NOW about where it wants the country’s next runway to be located.
Greening likely candidate for Tory Mayor of London
WHO should the Tory candidate for Mayor of London be?
The party is committed to selecting Sadiq Khan’s opponent by October this year.
At the moment, the biggest name in the frame is former Education Secretary Justine Greening.
Allies say that she is “umming and ahhing” about whether to run but, ultimately, expect that she will. Greening has been a London MP for 13 years and has some public profile, having been a cabinet minister for six years.
She voted Remain, which could also be an advantage in London given that it did the same.
At the moment, though, Greening looks like winning the Tory nomination by default – there just aren’t any other big-name Tories interested. Ed Vaizey, the popular former arts minister, has decided against going for it.
If the Tories are going to get any interest in their selection contest, they are going to need more than one candidate with a bit of name recognition.
- James Forsyth is political editor of The Spectator.