The number of far-right terror cases the authorities are faced with is “absolutely dwarfed” by the number of cases related to radical Islam, according to Britain’s Security Service, better known as MI5.
MI5 specialises in counter-espionage and domestic security, in contrast to the foreign intelligence-oriented Secret Intelligence Service – better known as SIS or MI6, made famous by Ian Flemming’s James Bond books. The assessment of the relative seriousness of the Islamist terror threat and the far-right terror threat was disclosed halfway through a Guardian report focusing heavily on the latter, later republished by other media outlets including CNN and Microsoft-owned MSN.
The left-liberal newspaper led on claims by the far-left HOPE Not Hate organisation, which describes itself as “anti-fascist” and has previously received funding from billionaire open borders campaigner George Soros, that “huge numbers of Britons are among the global audience for far-right forums” online.
The Guardian also quoted Britain’s anti-extremism “tsar”, Sara Khan, regarding the “frightening amount of legal extremist content online” which the left claim is fuelling far-right extremism. The comments suggest a clampdown on online anonymity and uncensored discussion groups may be on the cards.
Halfway through the article, however, the Guardian concedes that, while the security services “have not revealed how many of the 700 or so live terror plots and 20,000 individuals classified as ‘closed subjects’ … are related to right-wing extremism”, MI5 did disclose that such cases are, quote, “absolutely dwarfed by the number of Islamist cases” being dealt with.
This is the case despite the fact that Britain’s white population, from which white nationalist extremists are presumably likely to recruit, is in excess of 50 million, while the Muslim population, from which Islamist extremists are likely recruiting, is officially only 2.7 million – suggesting the radical Islamism presents a much more potent threat than the far right in terms of its capacity to radicalise people.
Nevertheless, the British authorities have placed a huge degree of emphasis on tackling the far right since even before Christchurch, with Cabinet minister Amber Rudd warning that people viewing what she described as “far-right propaganda” online could face up to 15 years’ imprisonment under harsh new counter-extremist penalties while she was still at the Home Office.
The measures drew some criticism from Max Hill QC, then terrorism legislation watchdog, now Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales, who warned that the Government should not “criminalise thought without action or preparation for action,” and that “the struggle for national security must not be used as a stick to beat down the rights we hold dear.”
“If that were to happen, terrorism would have prevailed,” he added.
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