Sunak Misses Again

'There is a fundamental gap between the political rhetoric and effective policy delivery when it comes to the Conservative Party'

Following left-wing firebrand George Galloway’s victory in the Rochdale by-election, Rishi Sunak – rapidly reaching the status of being the worst Prime Minister in modern British history – decided to issue an ‘emergency intervention’ in front of 10 Downing Street.

Nothing makes the British political establishment look more rattled than an unrelatable Prime Minister desperately taking aim at anti-establishment figures after a democratic result in post-industrial Northern England.

At one point, Sunak specifically referred to Nick Griffin (who endorsed Galloway’s campaign on social media) – giving the former BNP Leader the most publicity he’s received since his car-crash Question Time appearance in 2009.

Instead of labelling the outcome of the Rochdale by-election as “horrifying”, Sunak should have adopted a more constructive approach by saying that mainstream politics needs to do a better job of engaging with forms of political disaffection and institutional distrust in ‘left-out’ parts of the country. 

During his speech, Sunak referred to the ‘poison’ of extremism – in both its Islamist and far-right forms. But his framing problematically suggested that they were on an equal footing in terms of the threat posed to the British public. 

Now, being an academic of Bangladeshi Muslim heritage who has authored reports on antisemitism, I would never be in the business of trivialising far-right extremism.

Saying that, there is a tendency among the chattering classes to present it along with Islamist extremism as similarly dangerous threats.

The PM should have made clear that this is the principal terror threat in modern Britain. This is demonstrated by the ideological composition of Mi5’s terror-related watchlist, terrorism-connected offenders across the prison estate, and the list of organisations proscribed by the Home Office.

And of course, the death toll across terrorist attacks on British soil over the course of the 21^st Century.

There was also an opportunity for Sunak to point out that more liberal and secular-minded Muslims face considerable levels of intra-religious intimidation and harassment at the hands of Islamists. He failed to do so. 

Sunak also didn’t make one mention of far-left revolutionary activity – which I have previously referred to as an ‘emergent’ threat. Recently, a left-wing anarchist was found guilty of terror offences after declaring that he wanted to kill at least fifty people. That conviction underscores the reality of a complicated terror picture for the country. 

The fact that so many Tory politicians and supposedly ‘straight-talking’ media personalities came out in support of Sunak’s speech and considered it to be a much-needed statement, shows how fundamentally unserious they all are. 

There is a fundamental gap between the political rhetoric and effective policy delivery when it comes to the Conservative Party – especially when it comes to matters of national security and public safety.

This is precisely why so many of its traditional voters have abandoned it – and I suspect it will be deservedly punished in the General Election looming over the horizon.  

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