Members of David Cameron’s administration have expressed surprise at Theresa May’s vow to crack down on non-violent extremism and suggested that she opposed similar efforts while she was home secretary.
The prime minister signalled her determination to tackle non-violent extremism on Sunday after the London Bridge attacks. “[Terrorism] will not be defeated through the maintenance of a permanent, defensive counterterrorism operation, however skilful its leaders and practitioners,” she said.
“It will only be defeated when we turn people’s minds away from this violence and make them understand that our values — pluralistic, British values — are superior to anything offered by the preachers and supporters of hate.”
However, members of the previous government suggested that Mrs May and the Home Office wanted to focus on those who had been radicalised or committed acts of violence, rather than communities at risk of radicalisation.
Mr Cameron wanted to be tougher on non-violent extremism and often sided with Michael Gove, the education secretary and later justice secretary, who wanted robust action to “drain the swamp” in communities before individuals turned violent.
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One Whitehall source from the time said: “There was regularly discomfort that David and Michael were on the same page on non-violent extremism but Theresa May was not. The feeling was that David and Michael were peas in a pod on this and they felt their positions were being undermined.
“Theresa did not want to divert resources away from violent extremism but was also wanted to make sure that Muslim communities did not feel unduly targeted [by the state].”
As home secretary and upon entering Downing Street, Mrs May emphasised her sensitivity towards non-white communities, citing her reform of police powers to stop and search as evidence. In 2014 she announced that she would bring forward a “comprehensive package” reforming the use of stop-and-search powers after telling MPs that as many as a quarter of a million street searches in the previous year were probably carried out illegally. Black people were seven times more likely to be stopped by the police than white people, with only about one in ten of those incidents leading to an arrest.
Mrs May regularly referred to the policy change to show her understanding of the challenges of non-white communities, and some government figures from the time think she worried that this reputation would be undermined if she pushed through some of the initiatives Downing Street wanted on non-violent extremism.
One person said they were stunned by Mrs May’s tone on Sunday because of the running battles there had been with No 10.
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Another pointed to the objections raised by the Home Office team as recently as the start of last year over attempts by Mr Cameron to introduce tougher rules to bring Muslim women into mainstream society.
Mr Cameron announced a £20 million push to improve English classes for migrants, backed by sanctions on those who failed to improve their language skills, in an article for The Times last year.
However, Mrs May made clear her unhappiness at the initiative, according to two Whitehall figures involved in those discussions.
This tension surfaced in 2014 when Mr Gove, as education secretary, clashed with Mrs May over claims that she was not doing enough on non-violent extremism. They argued at a meeting of the extremism task force, a committee of cabinet ministers set up by Mr Cameron. It led to the departure of Fiona Hill, then Mrs May’s special adviser at the Home Office.
However, another member of the last government paid tribute to Mrs May’s determination to stop more police cuts in the 2015 spending round overseen by George Osborne: “Theresa felt further savings were a bridge too far so she forced George’s agreement.”