Jenrick: Police are giving in to Islamists
Shadow justice secretary claims Britain faces ‘the fight of our generation’ against extremists
Police are giving in to Islamists because it is too challenging to confront them, Robert Jenrick has claimed.
In an article for The Telegraph, the shadow justice secretary said that, unless Islamists were challenged, the Government and police risked ceding control of the country and its streets.
Citing the decision of West Midlands Police to ban Israeli football fans from a Europa League match at Aston Villa in November, Mr Jenrick warned that the “fight against Islamism is the fight of our generation”.
It comes amid accusations that the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was politically motivated rather than based on genuine safety concerns.
Craig Guildford, the West Midlands Police Chief Constable, is under pressure to resign over the controversy. He faces accusations that he misled Parliament with his version of events.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, claimed that the force had “capitulated to Islamists” demanding a ban and then “collaborated with them to cover it up”. She said Mr Guildford’s position was now untenable and he should be sacked.
The Metropolitan Police has also been criticised for allowing pro-Palestinian marches across London.
Universities have similarly been inundated with pro-Palestinian protests, including on the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Labour is also preparing a new official definition of Islamophobia, which free speech campaigners have said would prevent legitimate criticism of the religion, risking a de facto blasphemy law.
Mr Jenrick, a former Cabinet minister who was responsible for immigration in the last Tory government, said: “The reality is the police can no longer sustain their authority in parts of Britain and have to lie to preserve the illusion.
“Mass migration and the abject failure of integration that has flowed with it has meant that in some places Islamists – unrespecting of British institutions of law and order, violent or openly threatening violence – now have such a foothold that the police do not know how to assert control and maintain order.
“They believe they would be overwhelmed if they tried to enforce the law. They are too defeatist to try. Or perhaps they believe it better not to, as the sight of their failure would be catastrophic for faith in them and in the rule of law as we’ve known it.”
The situation is increasingly being used by senior members of the Trump administration to criticise Britain under Sir Keir Starmer’s Government.
Commenting on the news that the United Arab Emirates has recently restricted state funding for its citizens seeking to enrol at UK universities over extremism concerns, JD Vance, the US vice-president, said: “Some of our best Muslim allies in the Gulf think the Islamist indoctrination in certain parts of the West is too dangerous.”
Mr Jenrick said the failure to take on Islamic extremism had been seen in the policing of protests after the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7 2023, Islamist gangs intimidating MPs during the general election and threats to free speech in school rows over alleged insults to Islam.
His comments come ahead of the publication this year of Labour’s counter-extremism strategy, the new official definition of Islamophobia and a review of protest laws, which is expected to give police greater powers to crack down on disruption.
The Telegraph: continue reading
Leave a Reply