Preventing homegrown Islamist terrorism cannot be politically correct, Dan Wootton says

One of the most significant and important official reports in recent British history was leaked to the left-wing Guardian newspaper this week – and I bet, outside of coverage during the Media Buzz on this show last night, you’ve heard nothing about it.

That’s because the Shawcross Report into the government’s failing Prevent counter-terrorism programme appears to be the opposite of what’s considered politically correct.

In fact, its findings are going to make the woke brigade wince.

But that doesn’t matter – because it will save lives.

Prevent has failed to do that on numerous occasions, including in the horrific terror attack that killed David Amess.

Ali Harbi Ali, the man given a whole life sentence for slaying the Tory MP in October, was referred to Prevent but managed to game the system after a sole meeting.

In fact, six of the 11 most notable recent terror attacks in the UK were carried out by people who had already been referred to Prevent.

The scheme – introduced in 2003 but strengthened after the 7/7 attacks in 2005 ­– is one more failure away from a terror attack that could kill hundreds of innocent Brits.So this really matters.

Well, the Shawcross report, which Home Office insiders believed was leaked to The Guardian by an aggrieved leftie within the department, will advise Prevent has been too focused on right-wing extremism and should now crack down on Islamist extremism.

As the Guardian reported…

The review claims there has been a “double standard” approach to tackling different forms of extremism, with individuals targeted for expressing mainstream right-wing views because the definition of neo-Nazism has expanded too widely, while the focus on Islamist extremism has been too narrow.

The leaked draft seen by The Guardian also recommends…

• -A renewed focus on Islamist extremism is needed, including when individuals do not yet meet the terrorism threshold.
• -Some Prevent-funded groups have promoted extremist narratives including support for the Taliban.

For the first time last year, the number of referrals to Prevent for far-right extremism outstripped those as a result of Islamist radicalisation.

However, according to the leak the programme’s view of right-wing terror has…

“been so broad it has included mildly controversial or provocative forms of mainstream, right-wing-leaning commentary that have no meaningful connection to terrorism or radicalisation."

No one is saying that genuine right-wing terror threats like Neo-Nazis must be dealt with immediately, but Prevent’s balance is currently wrong – and that could be deadly.

Meanwhile, according to a recent report by the Policy Exchange, a number of organisations, including the Muslim Council of Britain and the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, continue to undermine Prevent by spreading “pernicious, wholly false tropes about the programme”, including claims the government used Prevent to spy on Muslim communities.

Predictably, there are already attempts by left-wing organisations to undermine Shawcross, painting him as being anti-Islam.

That is utter baloney and a disturbing attempt to put the issue of Islamic extremism in the too hard basket.

What is it going to take for leftie do-gooders to take note?

Another successful suicide bomb, like the one that killed 22 and injured over 1,000 at the Manchester Arena five years ago this Sunday, many of whom were children going to watch Ariana Grande.

What is it going to take?