Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Michael Gove has defended the UK government’s new definition of extremism from a wave of criticism, maintaining that it does not seek to ban organisations but instead to allow government bodies to “choose our friends wisely”.
The UK communities secretary, who drew up the guidelines amid weekly pro-Palestinian protests and mounting tensions over the Israel-Hamas war, said he already had some “groups of concern” in his sights.
But he added that no decision would be taken to add such groups to a list unless due diligence was undertaken.
“This is not about banning organisations,” Gove told the BBC’s Today programme. “It’s important when government seeks to work to counter hatred . . . that we’re able to choose our friends wisely.”
The guidelines, released on Thursday, will not affect criminal law but are intended to stop the government funding or engaging with groups that spread extreme ideologies or hate in their communities.
They define extremism as “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance that aims to negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others”.
But the guidelines have been launched into a political firestorm.
Three former Tory home secretaries have warned this week against the dangers of politicising the debate over extremism, while the two most senior clerics in the Church of England have expressed serious concerns about the new definition.
The ruling Conservatives have also been criticised for taking £10mn from a donor with allegedly extreme views.
Asked whether the definition could lead to an investigation into the racist remarks by Tory donor Frank Hester, Gove said: “I wouldn’t want to conflate those motivated by extremist ideology with an individual comment, however horrific, which has quite rightly been called out and which has quite rightly led to an apology.”
This is a developing story
Read the full article here
