David Cameron has insisted he will not give a “kneejerk reaction” to the Islamist threat but it is looking increasingly as if the prime minister is playing politics with terror. Although he has deliberately not repeated Tony Blair’s declaration that the “rules of the game have changed” since the beheading of the American journalist James Foley, apparently by a British jihadist, he is doing all he can to sound tough without having the detail in place to back up the rhetoric. It’s security policy by spin at a time when the country needs protection by substance.
The government’s approach to a potentially mortal danger is at risk of descending into a shambles. On Friday Mr Cameron announced that he would bring forward a number of new anti-terrorism measures after intelligence experts raised the official threat level from “substantial” to “severe”. Journalists were briefed over the weekend that the law would be changed to make it easier to remove the passports of British citizens travelling to areas controlled by Islamic State extremists. There were proposals to enhance the intelligence services’ access to airline passenger lists. The most eye-catching suggestion was that British jihadists fighting in Iraq and Syria would be banned from re-entering Britain. The details of the package had, however, neither been thought through nor agreed with the Lib Dems.
Within hours, the proposal to stop British nationals returning to this country was unravelling, with senior politicians from all parties warning that it would be illegal and unworkable. Downing Street was unable to provide details of where these UK citizens would end up, raising the prospect of a zombie army of stateless extremists who would be impossible to trace, or a shadow troop of jihadists shuttling between airport departure lounges in different countries. Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, the former director of public prosecutions, who is now a Lib Dem peer, says that Downing Street is living in “la-la land” if it thinks such a policy could be implemented because it would depend on countries such as Turkey and Germany accepting UK extremists. “It’s security policy by announcement, an incredibly shallow response to a deadly serious problem,” he told me. “The real issue is that we have got to try and put these people behind bars.”
Dominic Grieve, the Conservative former attorney-general, echoed his concerns in the Commons, warning that excluding British citizens from returning to their country would “offend the basic principles” of international and domestic law.
By yesterday, when Mr Cameron gave his statement to MPs, he said only that he would consider the options in cross-party talks, emphasising the importance of closing “gaps” in this country’s defences. Allies of Nick Clegg said that the deputy prime minister would “need to be persuaded” that any change was “necessary and workable”. There is a growing sense of chaos, combining cock-up with a whiff of conspiracy about the government’s approach.
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It’s hard to avoid the suspicion that No 10 had ramped up the rhetoric on Friday to try to bury bad news after the defection of Douglas Carswell to Ukip, without thinking through the consequences. The Tories also believe they can benefit electorally from talking tough on terrorism.
A former Conservative minister condemns the No 10 approach as “childish”. “They’ve got it completely wrong,” he says. “They wanted to get bish-bash, ‘get tough’ headlines to look like the prime minister is in control but I’m less concerned by the lack of action than the lack of thought. The world is in turmoil, stretching from Ukraine to Baghdad, but there is no big analysis that matches the scale of the problem.”
Another senior Tory criticises the Downing Street operation run by Mr Cameron. “They don’t think: ‘Let’s get a serious set of policies that may solve the problem. They think: ‘Let’s brief something that will get rid of this problem for the next 72 hours.’ Politics for the Cameroons is just tactical media management. There is nothing else.”
There is a genuine threat to this country from what Mr Cameron describes as a “poisonous ideology of Islamist extremism”. It is truly shocking to hear a British accent alongside images of a beheading. Equally horrifying are the comments by a former Morrisons security guard from High Wycombe: “I hate the UK. The only reason I would return is when I want to come and plant a bomb somewhere” or the tweet by a white British woman stating: “You Christians all need beheading with a nice blunt knife”. But, to paraphrase Michael Gove, by proposing draconian but unworkable new powers, No 10 risks shooting a paper crocodile while flooding instead of draining the swamp.
The truth is that there are already plenty of laws allowing the government to deal with British extremists who carry out acts of terror abroad. As Lord Macdonald points out, it has been illegal since 1861 for someone to commit murder in another country. New powers to allow the prosecution of British nationals who prepare terrorist acts, or participate in training camps, are included in the Serious Crime Bill. The home secretary already has the right to withdraw an individual’s passport if she suspects they are planning to take part in terrorist activity. Some tweaks may be needed, but the intelligence services should be concentrating on using existing powers to find and jail those who commit atrocities, rather than seeking to extend their reach. The danger is that Muslim communities will feel victimised and those who are now only flirting with extremism will be pushed over the edge.
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In 2011, when a massacre by Anders Behring Breivik left dozens dead, the Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg said that his country would “stand firm in defending our values”, insisting the correct response to terror was “more democracy, more openness and greater political participation” rather than tough new laws. It’s hard to imagine any politician in this country saying something similar just months before an election.
But if this is a culture war, it will not be won by taking away basic human rights of British citizens, nor by exaggerating plans that lack credibility.
Mr Cameron may think he stands to gain electorally from the politics of fear, but this is no time for Westminster games.