Is Gove handing Labour a dangerous weapon?

Michael Gove is back in the news, having come up with a new definition of extremism that he wants to roll out across Whitehall and beyond. Those captured by this definition, whether persons or groups, won’t be able to take up official roles or receive taxpayers’ money, with the primary purpose being to stop Islamic radicals embedding themselves in organs of the state. But in order to pass muster, both legally and politically, the definition cannot just catch immoderate Muslims in its net, so he’s had to come up with something universal – and therein lies the difficulty.

Is there a risk this new definition, which includes phrases like ‘aims to… negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others’, will also be applied to gender critical feminists, anti-abortion activists and other bêtes noires of metropolitan radicals? The answer is ‘yes’, given that the decision about who meets the definition will be left to civil servants, most of whom have been taught by Stonewall to regard anyone who dissents from progressive orthodoxy as beyond the pale. That might not be a danger while the present government remains in office, but given the likelihood of a Labour victory at the next election, Gove’s definition begins to look like a hostage to fortune.

On Monday I visited the 56-year-old Communities Secretary in his office to learn more about his plans. He was anxious to stress that the definition will be ‘non-statutory’, meaning it will be included in official guidance but not legislation. That’s probably just as well, since the last time a Tory government tried to legislate against extremism – in the aftermath of Lee Rigby’s murder – it had to abandon the attempt after huge opposition. Back then, the extremism the government wanted to ban was defined as ‘vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs’, as well as ‘calls for the death of members of our armed forces’.

That definition originated in the Prevent Strategy in 2011 and is still embedded in the Prevent duty guidance, which local authorities, schools, universities, the NHS, prisons and the police are expected to observe.