For the third time in three months, British Prime Minister Theresa May, clad in black, stood before Downing Street to address the nation, after a terrorist attack had taken place — first in Westminster, then in Manchester and late this Saturday night by London Bridge and neighbouring Borough Market.
However, the tone struck by May on Sunday afternoon was new, as she declared that “enough is enough.” While people should go about their lives as they “normally would” when it came to tackling extremism and terrorism, things needed to change, she said as she attacked the “evil ideology of Islamist extremism,” and warned of a new trend in the threat level, as terrorists copied acts carried out by others in the past. “Terrorism breeds terrorism,” she said.
Counter-terrorism alone could not tackle Islamist extremism, which would only be defeated by persuading people that our values were better, she said. The ideology should not be given a safe space, whether it was in the country, abroad, or online, via social media channels that could be used to propagate their ideology.
Military action to destroy ISIS in Syria and Iraq was a necessary component of this, she said. Action would also need to be taken domestically to stamp out tolerance of extremism across the country. “The whole country needs to come together to take on extremism”. Britain would also need to review its counter-terrorism strategy, and if necessary the powers to those involved in that strategy should be increased, including potentially the custodial sentences for those involved in supporting or promoting terrorism.
Her message contrasted with those following previous attacks, which had focussed on continuing existing counter-terrorism strategies, and stressing the unity of the country against the threat.
Corbyn stanceWhile the electoral campaign paused for several days after the attack on Manchester, local campaigning by political parties continued, with only the big campaign events suspended on Sunday, and only by the largest political parties, the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party. This time round, UK Independence Party declined to halt its campaigning at all, saying it would be giving in to the terrorists to do so. “Democracy must prevail,” said Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, of the decision by the other parties to resume campaigning quickly.
While the impact that the attacks will have had on Britain’s capital city, known for its embrace of diversity and multiculturalism, and its ability to resume “normal” life swiftly after an atrocity, will become evident in the days and weeks to come, a wider debate is raging on what the appropriate action is so close to an election. The BBC faced criticism for cancelling its influential Sunday morning television programme, the Andrew Marr Show. The country’s leading TV current affairs programme should not be cancelled on Sunday before gen. election,” tweeted political commentator Tim Montgomerie.
Some senior figures criticised the government’s strategy more swiftly than had been the case following the previous attacks, including Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former spokesperson, who described May’s speech as “highly political and ill judged,” on Twitter. In a less direct attack, Corbyn told a news channel that he hoped the attack would be used to reflect on the needs to have sufficient police officers (as well as intelligence) — an issue that has repeatedly come up in the course of the election campaign.