David Cameron’s speech today at the Munich Security Conference came as a breath of fresh air after the debacle of Baroness Warsi’s controversial address at Leicester University, which did not carry the endorsement of Downing Street. In contrast to the Conservative Party chairman, Cameron addressed the issue of Islamist terrorism and extremism head on, and delivered a speech that was far more in tune with the views of the British public. Warsi’s crude and condescending depiction of Britain as increasingly a nation of bigots in the grip of “Islamophobia” was hugely out of touch with Middle England and most of her own party.The Prime Minister’s speech was among the most important of his premiership so far, dealing with a subject critical to British national security, as well as the future of Britain as a free nation. It was a powerful condemnation of a deadly Islamist ideology that threatens the very fabric of British society, as well as a wholehearted rejection of “the doctrine of state multiculturalism”. As Cameron noted:
We will not defeat terrorism simply by the action we take outside our borders. Europe needs to wake up to what is happening in our own countries… We have got to get to the root of the problem, and we need to be absolutely clear on where the origins of where these terrorist attacks lie. That is the existence of an ideology, Islamist extremism.Read more.
… And if we are to defeat this threat, I believe it is time to turn the page on the failed policies of the past. So first, instead of ignoring this extremist ideology, we – as governments and as societies – have got to confront it, in all its forms. And second, instead of encouraging people to live apart, we need a clear sense of shared national identity that is open to everyone.