For the past few days we have been pre-occupied with the horrific bomb plots involving cargo planes. Thanks to the effort of our intelligence services, mass murder - planned by extreme Islamists - was thwarted once again.
When the terrorists fail, we are always reminded of the chilling IRA statement (made after the Brighton bomb):
"We only have to be lucky once, you have to be lucky always".
Despite the efforts of the Intelligence Services, the conveyor belt to Terrorism remains all too strong. Extreme Islamism is being appeased on our campuses for example. The 'underpants' bomber in Detroit, was 'nurtured' at UCL. As highlighted in the November issue of Standpoint magazine, a recent UCL inquiry into the bomber, attempted to white-wash the issue, rather than confront Islamist extremism at the University.
Unless we can deal with the conveyer belt to terrorism: controlling fanatical Islamists in our Higher education groups, outlawing extreme Islamist groups and banning known Islamists from entering the UK, we will not succeed against the terrorists themselves. You can't deal with the one without the other.
Fortunately, the Home Secretary Theresa May has shown real awareness and understanding of this problem. Despite the best efforts of some senior civil servants in the Home Office - who believe appeasement is an adequate solution - this Coalition government has made real concrete moves to try and get people off the conveyer belt. No longer will Britain be a safe haven for extremists like Al Qaradawi or act as host nation for Hezbollah or Hizbut-Tahrir.
My question to the Home Secretary is below:
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con): I commend the security services for doing a remarkable job, but does not the incident involving the Detroit bomber show that other parts of civil society, such as our universities, are failing to get a grip on Islamist extremists? Does the Home Secretary agree that, for our fight against terrorism to succeed, we need to deal effectively with the conveyor belt to terrorism, just as we must deal with the terrorists themselves?
Mrs May: My hon. Friend has raised an important point. I hope that I can reassure him that, alongside our work on the incident at the weekend and on reviewing our counter-terrorism legislation, we are also looking at the development of extremism and the process of radicalisation. It is important that we ensure that people do not get drawn into a radicalised agenda that leads to extremism, violence and terror. That work is ongoing.
