Quilliam to close

by Paul Goodman

Yesterday in the Commons, Robert Halfon raised this week's suicide bombing in Sweden, and asked the Prime Minister about Britain exporting Islamist terrorists.  The Prime Minister replied -

"If we are frank on both sides of the House, we have not done enough to deal with the promotion of extremist Islamism in our own country. Whether it is making sure that imams coming over to this country can speak English properly, or whether it is making sure that we de-radicalise our universities, we have to take a range of further steps, and I am going to be working hard to make sure that we do."

At the same time as David Cameron was speaking, Quilliam, the counter-extremism think-tank, was laying off some 80 per cent of its staff.  It is effectively closing.  The trigger for the decision was the withholding of payments by the Home Office.

Sources close to Quilliam focus on the role of Charles Farr, Director-General of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism.  Earlier this year, Farr connived behind Ministers' backs to get Zakir Naik, a hate preacher, into Britain.  Theresa May eventually barred Naik, who lost a legal challenge against the decision.  Conservative MPs called for Farr to go.

However, the Home Office insists that Ministers have thought the matter through carefully, and weren't satisfied by the case for funding Quilliam further.  It says that the think-tank isn't alone, and that other organisations funded by the Prevent programme have also seen payments cut or halted.

However, Quilliam is still receiving some Foreign Office funding, which raises the question of why it isn't to be supported by the Home Office when other organisations are.  Quilliam's work has a unique perspective on Islamism, since it was gained from inside experience.  And its range was highlighted, albeit unwittingly, by the Prime Minister himself yesterday, in the words I quoted above -

"Whether it is making sure that imams coming over to this country can speak English properly" [see Quilliam's Report, Mosques Made in Britain, for suggestions], "or whether it is making sure that we de-radicalise our universities", [see Quilliam's Report, Radicalisation on British University Campuses: a case study, for ideas] "we have to take a range of further steps, and I am going to be working hard to make sure that we do."