Concerns over whether civil society can function are growing – now serious questions are being asked of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Its director Ben Jamal told MPs in December that “alongside the national marches, we have called for days of action, where people have marched and held protests and vigils in towns and cities across the UK. We have not specifically organised or called for demonstrations outside MPs’ offices“. Then, during Wednesday’s Gaza debate chaos, Jamal told protestors: “We want so many of you to come that they will have to lock the doors of parliament itself” and called for them to “ramp up pressure” on MPs. That pressure has led to protests in increasingly private locations.
Two days later, Anneliese Dodds was harassed and protestors stormed a Tory fundraiser in Stoke from which MP Aaron Bell had to be warned off arriving by the police. The Stoke Palestine Solidarity Campaign declared itself responsible of the attack, which was led by ex Hizb-ut Tahrir member Tayyib Muqeem. The central Palestine Solidarity Campaign has, on top of this, taken ownership of the Stoke branch. Three arrests have been made so far…
David Spencer, Head of Crime and Justice at Policy Exchange, now slams the Palestine Solidarity Campaign: “We are now seeing an increase in groups such as the PSC seeking to apply pressure to Members of Parliament. While there may well be qualified rights to freedom of speech and assembly there is no right to harass, abuse or intimidate. Police chiefs must take robust action to protect Parliamentarians and enforce the law. Our democratic settlement is at stake.” Intimidation is a threat to the normal operation of British politics…
Read the PSC’s celebratory post about the attack below:
In an embarrassing kickoff to the New Year, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has had to scramble to correct the record over an email sent to MPs that said the Palestinian flag would be flown over Parliament next week during meeting with the Palestinian ambassador and the Speaker. The email wasn’t exactly ambiguous…
The email sparked backlash from Policy Exchange’s Iain Mansfield, who tweeted:
“The UK does not recognise the state of Palestine. Should the Speaker be committing the entire House of Commons to such a controversial position on the current conflict? Is Speaker-led diplomacy really appropriate in this case?”
Speaker Hoyle has since denied that a meeting with the Palestinian ambassador will take place and has clarified that the flag will not be flown, with a spokesperson telling the Express that “A routine internal planning email was sent in error.” Double checking emails should be on the Commons’ New Year’s resolution list…
Having first taken aim at his “former boss” earlier in the speech, Rishi Sunak finished off with a Policy Exchange crowdpleaser by going after Sir Keir and the eco-zealots backing the Labour Party. “Just Stop British Oil” rolls off the tongue…
“I’m also trying to prevent the disruption of a splinter group of Just Stop Oil – or Just Stop British Oil, and the damage they will cause. It is in part funded by the same person. This splinter group is led by a sixty-year old lawyer from North London, who has a long history which he now tries to deny of associating with hard left figures. But their policies would threaten both our energy security, and our jobs here in the UK, and my job is to stop that from happening…”
The Sun reports Rishi also hailed cricketer Jonny Bairstow as a hero for scooping a Just Stop Oil protester off the ground at the ashes yesterday:
“These Labour backed eco-zealots have disrupted one too many sporting events that Brits around the country look forward to every summer. Jonny Bairstow did a heroic job of stepping in to stop the Just Stop Oil intruders from causing further disruption to the cricket and we will ensure the police do the same on the streets of the UK and beyond.”
He could learn a thing or two about batting on a sticky wicket…
A damning new report from Policy Exchange, written by former Metropolitan Police officer David Spencer, has torn into the British police force for having “lost [its] way” in recent years, and urged officers to stop “taking the knee and other acts that could be seen as ‘woke'” to regain public trust after years of declining support in the face of violent crime. This is especially true in London, where less than half the city believes the Met are up to scratch. Not much of a surprise when the Mayor is busy banning burger ads on the tube and constables are deradicalising homophobic horses…
Spencer doesn’t mince his words:
“If the past few years have shown us anything, it is that British policing has lost its way. An overhaul of police leadership is needed which is capable of delivering for the public. When institutions become closed shops they cease to be effective – this cannot happen with the institution that exists to protect the public from crime and disorder.”
He goes on to offer an 11-point manifesto for improvement, including abolishing the College of Policing, retraining staff to better handle eco loons and statue vandals, beefing up powers to dismiss criminal officers (not sure why this wasn’t already in place), and creating an app for residents to report crimes “in real time“. Spencer offers the manifesto as a blueprint for the next PM, whoever she may be. Good timing: today Truss has already announced a new target to cut crime by 20 per cent in London by 2024…
Jaw-dropping finding from Policy Exchange this afternoon as they’ve reveal the British Council and Heritage Lottery Fund are backing an event discussing the work of Asim Qureshi – CAGE’s research director. The logos of both organisations currently appear on promotional material for an event discussing Qureshi’s book “I refuse to condemn”, set to take place on 25th November. Qureshi is perhaps best known for describing Jihadi John as a “beautiful young man”…
The revelation come just two months after Policy Exchange revealed a taxpayer-funded theatre in Camden was set to host a 9/11 event with “apologists for terror”; and forms part of their research for their “Understanding Islamism Project”.
The platform is being given to Qureshi as part of Islamophobia Awareness Month, in collaboration with “Our Shared Cultural Heritage”, Decolonise University of Manchester, and Manchester University Press Radical Readers. “Our Shared Cultural Heritage” is a British Council project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund…
Once again a cross-party opposition of Khalid Mahmood and Nus Ghani have come out to condemn the event, with the former pointing out:
“The British Council exists to promote cultural understanding between peoples and a positive view of Muslims to showcase the best of Britain. Asim Qureshi and CAGE have consistently shown themselves to be some of the worst. What is an organisation with a royal charter doing in such company?”
After their last exposé, Oliver Dowden launched an immediate investigation, Guido expects the new Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries will do the same again…
As MPs inexplicably focus on the right to online anonymity, rather than countering extremist terror in the wake of Sir David Amess’s killing, Policy Exchange has uncovered publicly available tweets from the father of the only suspect arrested, Ali Harbi Ali, proving anonymity is not the determinant of extremist social media content. Harbi Ali Kullane’s views, available on the public Twitter account @Xarbi, has him defending Palestinian attacks on Israel, criticising British colonialism in Somalia, and in 2015 he compared the IS Paris bombing to raids carried out by Western powers on military targets in Syria. Policy Exchange ask whether it’s absurd to suggest these views could have influenced his son…
It’s also noted that while it’s been reported that Kullane has himself received threats from Al-Shabaab jihadists, we don’t know the context and nature of these disputes, nor Kullane’s wider world view.
Policy Exchange asks 13 more questions arising from the Southend terrorist attack; including being bold enough to explicitly question the role of Islamist ideology in the attack, the sociological accuracy of the term ‘lone wolf’ with these attacks. are we getting value for money from MI5’s services? Is there the balance of focus required in tackling far-right versus Islamist extremism? Has Prevent been over-vilified by its opponents? All excellent questions the authorities need to answer in the coming weeks…
