I share the government’s desire to tackle extremism. But their new definition won’t help

Concerns are growing that Christian organisations could be blacklisted by the government’s new definition of extremism, says James Mildred

A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stood outside No. 10 Downing Street and gave a speech about extremism.

In it, he extolled British values which he defined chiefly as our “commitment to a liberal, parliamentary democracy”. He said, “Islamist extremists and far right groups are spreading a poison, that poison is extremism.”

He also praised the “tolerance” of the “established Christian church”, saying it helped underpin the values of a plural society. 

The main point of the speech was to announce the government would bring forward a new definition of extremism. This would then be followed by a new strategy to tackle extremism. These were published yesterday. Here’s the new definition: