Enough really has to be enough
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Enough is enough. That was the welcome – albeit belated – sentiment of Rishi Sunak’s address to the nation on Friday afternoon. Drawing on his own experience, the Prime Minister defended the idea of Britain as a “patriotic, liberal, democratic” society, a reasonable country with decent people. But, he warned, that society is being targeted by extremists, who want to pit Briton against Briton and tear this country apart.
The immediate context was George Galloway’s victory in the Rochdale by-election on Thursday. Jewish groups had expressed their alarm at Mr Galloway’s return to Parliament, after a campaign marred by sectarianism and accusations of intimidation. He had successfully turned the by-election into a vote on Gaza, a foreign conflict in which the UK has no direct role. The Prime Minister attacked Mr Galloway’s views on Israel, citing the fact that he was endorsed by the former BNP leader Nick Griffin.
But the Rochdale by-election did not emerge out of nowhere. Week by week, pro-Palestinian protesters have sought to dominate the centres of our cities, chanting extremist and anti-Semitic slogans while the police have just looked on. A new low was reached last week, when the Speaker of the Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, was seen to break parliamentary convention out of fear for MPs’ safety, an action condemned as appeasement by many parliamentarians.
The Government has not been on the front foot as these appalling events have unfolded. Now, however, the Prime Minister is promising to “face down the extremists who would tear us apart”, not with pandering but with leadership.
The question is what he proposes to do. It appears that he wishes the police to end their ambivalent attitude to hateful demonstrations, and he called on the marchers to reject radicals in their midst. But if Mr Sunak thinks the protests have become a vehicle for anti-Semitism, some will ask why he does not wish to prevent them entirely, at least in the heart of the capital.
Mr Sunak also pledged to redouble support for the Prevent anti-extremism programme. Last month, however, Sir William Shawcross, who had been commissioned to write a review of the scheme, criticised the Government for not following through on all of his recommendations.
Many will have been cheered to hear the Prime Minister speak with such passion about Britain, and of his determination that the extremists should be defeated. But this is not a battle that will be won in short order. He will need to accompany his fine words with decisive and comprehensive action to defend the British way of life.
