Tory leader Rishi Sunak vows to tackle extremism

Tory leader wants to add ‘vilification of the U.K.’ to the definition of extremism

Rishi Sunak during a campaign event in Ludlow, Britain. August 3, 2022. J | Photo Credit: Reuters

With his campaign calling “Islamist extremism” the U.K’s “most significant terror threat”,Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor and candidate for the post of Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader, said he would widen the government’s definition of extremism and scrutinise publicly funded charities accused of promoting extremist ideology.

Part of Mr. Sunak’s plan, which was released by his campaign, was focused on the ‘Prevent’ programme, a government strategy to prevent individuals from supporting or becoming terrorists and adds “vilification of the United Kingdom” to the definition of extremism. Mr. Sunak’s agenda also goes into extremism in prisons, including seeking to separate extremists from the general prison population.

Mr. Sunak’s plan was announced as his opponent, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, continued, on Tuesday, to win the backing of Cabinet colleagues, including a former contender for the leadership, Minister of State for Trade Penny Mordaunt. Another former contender and MP, Tom Tugendhat, had already declared his support for Ms. Truss, who had also secured the backing of Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi.

Also on Tuesday, the Truss campaign walked back her plans to cut public spending, after widespread opposition to them, including from her own party, when it became apparent that the plan to save close to £9 billion would involve pay cuts to public sector doctors, nurses and teachers outside the London region.

Polls of Conservative members for their choice of Prime Minister showed varying results. A new poll of 1,043 Conservative Party members conducted by YouGov for The Times showed Ms. Truss with a 34 percentage point lead over Mr. Sunak, with 60% of Tory members saying they would vote for the Foreign Secretary versus 26% for Mr. Sunak (margin of error +/- 3%), with the others undeciding or not planning to vote. A July 20 survey had 40% supporting Ms. Truss and 31% supporting the former Chancellor.

Support for Johnson

Forty percent of respondents preferred Boris Johnson to continue as Prime Minister versus 28% who prefer Ms. Truss and 23% whose choice is Mr. Sunak.

A poll by an Italian firm Techne, of 807 Conservative Party members, surveyed on July 19-27, showed Mr. Sunak closing the gap with his opponent, trailing Ms. Truss by five percentage points at 43% compared to her 48%.