Kemi Badenoch has been accused of political opportunism for criticising Labour politicians for suggesting counter-terror programme Prevent could alienate communities, having herself co-written a report expressing the same concerns.
The Tory leader signed off a report in 2015 that concluded Prevent was “subject to accusations of police heavy-handedness” and warned “the public must not be the forgotten partner in the fight against extremism”.
But, despite having backed the report and its findings, Ms Badenoch on Tuesday attacked Sir Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper over Labour’s 2019 general election manifesto, which said Prevent has the “potential to alienate communities”.
Ms Badenoch said: “When the Conservatives were trying to toughen the Prevent anti-extremism programme, Starmer and Cooper were running for office on manifestos worried about Prevent ‘alienating communities’.”
But Ms Badenoch was a member of the London assembly’s police and crime committee in 2015 and one of eight members who authored a 50-page report entitled Preventing extremism in London.
The report said Prevent was “subject to accusations of police heavy-handedness and spying” and that “it has had a troubled history, which has led to it being considered by some as a ‘damaged’ brand, and viewed with suspicion by others”.
“Community engagement is critical to the success of Prevent,” the report went on, noting the risk that “the current ‘top down’ approach to Prevent delivery makes it difficult to engage citizens”.
Concluding, the report said “the public must not be the forgotten partner in the fight against extremism. Community engagement is shown to work, but is also the hardest element to achieve.”
Green peer Jenny Jones, who was a fellow member on the committee at the time, accused Ms Badenoch of political opportunism.
She told The Guardian, which unearthed the report: “As a member of the London assembly, Kemi co-authored a scrutiny report in 2015 which recognised the shortcomings and possible downsides of the Prevent strategy, including the possible alienation of communities, but apparently did nothing to address them when in government.”
Another committee source said Ms Badenoch backed the report “in full”, with no mention of it being “woke”.
The Prevent scheme has faced renewed scrutiny after failing to stop a series of killings in recent years, including the mass stabbing of young girls at a dance class in Southport by Axel Rudakubana, who was referred to Prevent three times before carrying out the attack.
The killer of former Conservative MP Sir David Amess was also referred to the Prevent programme before the attack and his daughter has called for an inquiry into the programme.
Katie Amess said Prevent was not “foiling any terrorist attacks, it is allowing people to commit these crimes”.
She added: “I have been pushing and pushing and pushing for an inquiry from the Conservative government and from, now, the Labour Government.”
