UK’s Counterterror Top Dog Says Fastest-Growing Terror Threat Is From “Far Right”

How fully is the British government committed to propagating the Left’s increasingly common fictional claim that “far-right” and “white supremacist” terrorism constitutes a threat equal to or even greater than the jihad terror threat? As fully as one can possibly be. The BBC reported Thursday that “the fastest-growing terror threat in the UK comes from far-right extremism,” and that the authority making this claim was none less illustrious a personage than Neil Basu, Britain’s head of counter-terrorism. This indicates that the law enforcement establishment in shattered, staggering, dhimmi Britain is embracing this ridiculous claim at its highest levels.

Basu, according to the Beeb, “said seven of the 22 plots foiled since March 2017 have been linked to the ideology.” That sounds ominous indeed, until one reads on. Basu “said far-right terrorism had gone from 6% of the caseload two years ago to 10% today.” And “speaking at a briefing on Thursday, Mr Basu said about 10% of around 800 live terror investigations were linked to right-wing extremism.”

That means that Basu and the British police are dealing with 80 “right-wing” plots today, they were dealing with 48 such plots two years ago. Perhaps conscious of how silly it was to make this increase sound as if it were a big deal, a sign that “right-wing extremism” was engulfing the country, Basu hastened to say: “It’s small but it’s my fastest-growing problem.” The BBC added, with admirable understatement: “But, he said, the biggest threat still came from jihadists.” Basu also said: “As a proportion of our overall threat it’s definitely increasing,” that is, the “right-wing” threat, whereas the Islamist threat is staying the same, albeit at a very high level.”

No kidding, really? So all this hysteria about the fastest-growing threat in the country is about 80 right-wing plots, versus 720 jihad plots, which are apparently not worth remarking upon in any great detail since “the Islamist threat is staying the same.”

Nonetheless, Basu kept digging even deeper, saying: “Despite the increases, right-wing terrorism remains a relatively small percentage of our overall demand, but when nearly a third of the plots foiled by police and security services since 2017 relate to right-wing ideology, it lays bare why we are taking this so seriously.”

All terror plots should of course be taken seriously. But the fastest growing threat in Britain has gone from six percent to ten percent of terror plotting? Pardon me if I don’t spill my tea in horror. And it gets even sillier. Basu, said the BBC, “said some of the right-wing plots they disrupted were ‘designed to kill people’ – and methods mimicked those seen in jihadist attacks, with some even using Islamic State materials.”

Anyone who is plotting to kill people should be prosecuted, but what exactly does Neil Basu mean here? Only “some” of the “right-wing plots” were “designed to kill people.” Virtually all Islamic jihad plots are “designed to kill people,” so it’s unclear what other objective these “right-wing plots” that aren’t designed to kill people have. Are they just more speech to which the British government objects?

After all, UK authorities routinely smear completely peaceful and accurate analyses of the motivating ideology behind jihad terrorism as “far right extremism.” The situation is further complicated by the fact that so much of police time, attention and resources in Britain is now being taken up by hunts for and investigations of people who have committed “hate speech,” which often consists of nothing more than that accurate analysis of the jihad threat. Is that “hate speech” a “right-wing” terror plot? Does Neil Basu see the “right-wing” terror threat growing rapidly because he sees all criticism of Islam, jihad violence, and Sharia oppression as “hate speech,” which he considers equivalent to violence? In Britain today, it’s very likely that he does.

Yet the ever-oblivious Basu was abject in his sorrow over the previous indifference of British authorities to this massive “right-wing” threat: “I would say that some of the criticism that we did not look at white supremacist, right-wing violence as terrorism in the past is probably justified.”

Note also this: “Mr Basu added young people and those with mental health issues were particularly vulnerable to becoming radicalised.” We have seen more than once in the U.S. that killings by people who were demonstrably mentally ill were classified as “right-wing,” “white supremacist” plots. Is that being done in Britain also, and pumping up the “right-wing terror threat” numbers? It wouldn’t be surprising in the least.

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.