David Cameron must ally himself with moderate Muslims

Those who have been involved in counter-extremism in recent years would be forgiven for thinking that there is little new in the Prime Minister’s speech today. However, we need to remember two key things. First, that this government aims to increase the counter-extremism duties of frontline workers like teachers, so the target audience is wider UK civil society. Secondly, and this is evidenced by the Prime Minister speaking at a school in Birmingham, not at a security conference on the continent, we need to engage with the people who may be vulnerable to radicalisation in the first place.

The strategy set out today, ahead of its implementation in the autumn, identified the need to tackle non-violent Islamist extremism, whose ideology is shared by those who choose to use violence. David Cameron set out what makes people susceptible to this kind of radicalisation and committed to tackle these constituent parts.  The attraction of the ‘caliphate’ can be tackled with counter-narratives that debunk al-Baghdadi’s Islamist interpretation of Islam.