Tory ex-home secretaries warn against politicising extremism

Leading counter-terror and extremism experts, including three former Conservative home secretaries, have warned senior politicians against using extremism to score political points, as Michael Gove prepares to announce his controversial new antiextremism plan.

- Kiran Stacey

Priti Patel, Sajid Javid and Amber Rudd are among a dozen signatories to a joint statement warning about the risks of politicising anti-extremism, just days before the communities secretary unveils his proposals.

Other s ignatories include Brendan Cox , the widower of Jo Cox MP and co-founder of Survivors Against Terror ; Neil Basu , a former head of counter-terror policing ; and Richard Dannatt, ex-chief of the general staff .

The warning comes days before Gove is due to publish the government’s new official definition of extremism, which critics say will be so broad that it risks exacerbating community tensions and leaves ministers open to legal challenge .

The statement said: “Dealing with extremism is essential given the real threats from Islamist extremists, far right extremists and others. It requires as broad a consensus as possible if we are to be successful in marginalising and defeating it.

“In the run-up to a general election, it’s particularly important that that consensus is maintained and that no political party uses the issue to seek short-term tactical advantage. We urge [Labour and the Conservatives] to work together to build a shared understanding of extremism and a strategy to prevent it … no matter which party wins an election.”

Patel told the Guardian: “It is really important that we do not malign the wrong people through the wrong definitions. We haven’t seen anything yet from the government, but it is easy, as we have seen historically, to hide behind labels or defi nitions which sometimes end up being counterproductive.