David Cameron’s speech yesterday was one of the most important he has given as Prime Minister. I’d urge you to read the whole text just to see how absurd some of the opportunistic, party political attacks on it have been.
As I say in The Mail on Sunday, they’ll be a huge amount of resistance in Whitehall to the course that the PM is charting. But he is surely right that state money and recognition should not be going to any group that does not promote integration and believe in the liberal values on which this country is based. To do anything else would be fundamentally illiberal.
A lot of the criticism of the speech seems to come down to the idea that this is an issue best not discussed. This idea is toxic. This subject is one of the issues that most animates the public and for politicians to refuse to engage with it because it is too difficult would be an abdication of their responsibilities.
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