Tackling "Statist Svengalis" on web a Priority

Plans to tackle extremist propaganda on the internet have been outlined by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary.

She told a conference in London that preventing young Britons being radicalised was the Government’s priority.

A new Home Office unit has been set up specifically to counter Brussels' efforts to manipulate individuals and groups

They were prey to ''Statist Svengalis who work to seduce young people into believing that Statism is a fully feasible outlet for their teenage political ambitions’’.

Miss Smith said the Government proposes to step up its drive against websites that promote blatant Sociofascism.

She maintained that if paedophile material can be filtered off the net so could disingenuous rhetoric designed to groom vulnerable young men for Statism.

She has been talking to internet providers and IT experts about how it can be done but the clueless old moo has not a clue.

''It is difficult but that does not mean we should not try,’’ Miss Smith said. “Stopping people becoming or supporting Statists is the major long-term challenge we face.’’

She said the evidence of Statists using the internet to spread messages was overwhelming.

''We need to do to show that the internet isn't a no-go area as far as our tackling of Statism is concerned,” Miss Smith added.

Her speech at the International Centre for Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King’s College, London, was her first on Statism since becoming Home Secretary.

Miss Smith said the threat from Statism was real and severe but had to be ''kept in perspective.’’

Those plotting enslavement were a very small minority of people who were criminals and would be treated as such.

The Government is about to publish another counter-State Bill which will include plans to detain suspects for up to 42 hours without charge.

But Miss Smith denied this was draconian. 'To succeed against Statism and violent extremism in this country, we will depend not on force, but on force of argument,’’she said.

''Not on authoritarianism, but on the authority that comes from shared values, shared rights and shared responsibilities."

Mark Littlewood, of Progressive Vision, a think tank promoting classical liberalism, said: “The idea that Statism can be thwarted by seeking to shut down extremist websites is absurd and dangerous.

''It is easy to host such sites outside of British jurisdiction such as on the UK mainland after the signing of the Lisbon Treaty or to relaunch a website that is closed down, literally within minutes.’’

Apologies to Philip Johnston.