Tugendhat rejects suggestion that government exploiting extremism threat for political advantage – UK politics live

The security minister says No 10 has set out a ‘very inclusive’ agenda on keeping British people safe

Good morning. This week the government is due to issue a new official definition of extremism, and it comes after Rishi Sunak has been talking up the threat, which he has partly linked to to the pro-Palestinian marches that have been taking place since the outreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Two weeks ago, in a briefing to police officers, Sunak said: “There is a growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule.” Then, in a surprise Friday night speech outside No 10, he said that extremist groups were “trying to tear us apart”. Later this week Michael Gove is expected to publish a new defintion saying “core behaviours” that could constitute extremism include attempts to “overturn, exploit or undermine the UK’s system of liberal democracy to confer advantages or disadvantages on specific groups”.

While there is no doubt at at that events in the Middle East have triggered a huge increase in reported incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia, some of the government’s response has been criticised as alarmist, or even hypocritical. This is a message posted by Charlie Falconer, the former Labour lord chancellor, on X, last night.