Finsbury Park attack: We need a consistent response to terror

So it seems that it has happened again. A third terrorist attack in as many months on London’s streets. Once again using a vehicle. Once again aimed at Londoners.

Except that this time it seems the terrorist himself is not a follower of Isis. Indeed, reports suggest that the attacker may have been a non-Muslim deliberately targeting Muslims. On top of whatever other extremist motivations this attacker may have had, he was also unwittingly doing the work of Isis and similar groups. For if the attack in Finsbury Park was indeed aimed at Muslim worshippers as they were leaving their Mosque then this is exactly the sort of despicable attack that Isis would want to happen, to foment discord. Our whole nation’s thoughts will be with the injured and the family of the person who has died. Those worshippers leaving their mosque who held down the attacker until police arrived on the scene showed special courage and, along with the police, deserve special admiration.

Of course we now live in an era of the politicisation of absolutely everything. For instance, over the last week the far-left in Britain has attempted to claim there is ‘blood on the hands’ of Theresa May and her government for the terrible tragedy (which they are labelling ‘a crime’) at Grenfell Tower in London. Over the weekend they organised protests to demand the resignation of the government and incited already angry citizens to further their political ends. All this with no evidence whatsoever that the Conservative government had anything to do with the burning down of a tower-block in London. This is how the remaining civilities of political discourse disappear.

Now with the attack in Finsbury Park there will be more of the same. The same people who claim that no further extrapolation should be made from a British Muslim carrying out an Isis-inspired attack will extrapolate like mad if it turns out that a British non-Muslim has done the same thing.