Benjamin Butterworth tears into right-wing narrative…
GB News panellists were left shocked after a commentator slammed the right-wing view on extremism and their misleading narrative following the findings of a leaked review of the government’s counter extremism programme.
Following the horrific attacks in Southport, in which three young girls were murdered by Axel Rudakubana, a Prevent learning review was launched, with parts of the Home Office ordered report being leaked to the right-wing press.
Rudakubana had been referred to the anti-terror Prevent programme three times but was not deemed as an extremist under the scheme’s criteria.
The report from the Home Office said that Islamism and extreme right-wing ideologies are the “most prominent” issues they are tackling today.
The right-leaning Policy Exchange think tank claimed that the report “de-centres and downplays Islamism, by far the greatest threat to national security.”
That view of the report was also echoed on GB News during Patrick Christys Tonight programme, as the GB News presenter slammed the report for downplaying the threat of Islamist extremism.
The show also featured a quote by Security Minister Dan Jarvis who said: “As we have said repeatedly Islamist extremism followed by far-right extremism are the biggest threats we face.
“The Home Secretary set out last week our plans to carry out an end-to-end review of Prevent thresholds on Islamist extremism because we are concerned that referrals are too low.
“Ideology, particularly Islamist extremism, followed by far-right extremism continue to be at the heart of our approach to countering extremism and counter terror.”
Panellist Benjamin Butterworth was asked if he agreed with the conclusion that there was a desire to downplay the threat of Islamist extremism, to which he replied: “That’s quite obviously a completely unreasonable conclusion…”
He added: “To try and question the motives of people as though they don’t care about Islamist terrorism, the person who gave you that comment, the Security Minister Dan Jarvis spent 14 years serving this country in the armed forces, he’s fought in Iraq and Kosovo and Sierra Leone so I don’t think he needs lectures on tackling extremism and keeping this country safe given that he’s done more than anyone sat around this table.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That’s why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward’s work.
We still need another 117 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
