British PM’s record on terrorism comes under scrutiny as vote nears,
Theresa May had reduced size of police forces when she was home secretary
LONDON— After a brief display of national unity, British Prime Minister Theresa May found herself on the defensive Monday, as rivals challenged her record on security following the deadly attack in London this weekend, the third terrorist episode in three months.
On a day when it became clear that at least one of the attackers was previously known to the security services, opposition politicians zeroed in on May’s record as home secretary.
She held the portfolio in charge of security for six years before replacing David Cameron as prime minister, and she oversaw a reduction in police forces, including armed officers, during that time.
“I am so sick of Theresa May blaming others for terror when the system she presided over has obviously failed so lamentably,” Steve Hilton, once a close adviser to Cameron, wrote on Twitter.
May, he added in a separate tweet, “should be resigning, not seeking reelection.”
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour party, when asked by a reporter if he would support calls for May’s resignation over the falling number of police officers, replied, “Indeed, I would.”
Stung by the criticism just days before a critical national election Thursday that will decide her political future, May responded at a news conference. “We have protected counterterrorism policing budgets,” she said. “We have also provided funding for an increase in the number of armed police officers.”
She cited comments from Cressida Dick, head of the Metropolitan Police in London, that the city’s force is well resourced and has powerful counterterrorism abilities.
May also called for greater regulation of the Internet in light of the attacks. She blamed Internet providers and large websites on Sunday for providing violent extremism “the safe space it needs to breed.”
May called on governments around the world to develop “international agreements that regulate cyberspace” to battle terrorism. “And we need to do everything we can at home to reduce the risks of extremism online,” she said in a speech on Downing Street.
But technology experts are saying that the British government’s surveillance powers are already so vast that there’s little else officials can do to digitally monitor terrorism suspects without widely violating human rights.
When pressed by reporters, the prime minister also came to the defence of Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, who was mocked by U.S. President Donald Trump over his response to the attack.
Afocus on security would normally be expected to help the prospects of May’s Conservative party in the coming general election.
But as the investigation builds, so does speculation of potential security lapses that could have been prevented, possibly along with Saturday night’s attack.
The Metropolitan Police released photographs Monday of two of the assailants they shot dead, saying that one of them was known to intelligence services.
In a statement, they said they believed one of the suspects was Khuram Shazad Butt, 27, a British citizen who was born in Pakistan and known to MI5, the agency that deals with internal security.
The other man was identified as Rachid Redouane, 30, who had claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan but who had also used the name Rachid Elkhdar and a different date of birth. “Khuram Shazad Butt was known to the police and MI5,” the statement said. “However, there was no intelligence to suggest that this attack was being planned, and the investigation had been prioritized accordingly. The other named man, Rachid Redouane, was not known.”
Work is still underway to identify the third man who was killed during the attack on Borough Market.
The statement added that “work is ongoing to understand more about them, their connections and whether they were assisted or supported by anyone else.”
Both of the men identified as attackers were from Barking, in East London, where 12 people were arrested Sunday, although one, a 55year-old man, was released without charges. Early Monday, police raided two other homes in East London, one in Newham and the other in Barking.
Butt had appeared in a documentary, The Jihadis Next Door, that aired on British television last year.
Neighbours identified him from the film’s footage Monday, pointing to a scene in which he is shown participating in a provocative prayer session at Regents Park, near London’s biggest mosque, helping to display a black flag covered in white Arabic lettering similar to the one used by Daesh, which took responsi- bility for the attack.
Butt is also seen in the film sprawling on the lawn and nodding as he listens to a sermon in which the speaker tells those gathered: “This is not the real life, my dear brothers. This is a passing time for us.”
Butt’s apparent zealotry led one neighbour, Erica Gasparri, to contact police about 18 months ago. The 42year-old mother of three was working at a local school when she noticed Butt, who was also known as Abu Mohamed, meeting with local children and trying to draw them into his radicalism.
“It was wrong what he was doing,” Gasparri said. “He kept talking about the Islamic State. I got very angry.”
The main political parties suspended campaigning Sunday as a sign of respect for the seven people killed and the scores wounded in the attack, but as campaigning resumed Monday, so did the pressure on May.
Although there has been widespread praise for the professionalism and courage of the armed officers who shot and killed the assailants within eight minutes of being called Saturday night, the country’s broader anti-terrorism strategy was questioned.
Opposition politicians focused their fire on May, who gave a short speech outside her office on Downing Street on Sunday saying that “enough is enough,” promising to shake up anti-terrorism and deradicalization policies, and calling for new efforts to curb the dissemination of extremist materials on the internet.
Some of May’s political opponents regarded her comments as political and, as a result, in breach of the agreement to suspend campaigning.
Late Sunday, Corbyn criticized the decrease in the number of police officers since 2010.
“You cannot protect the public on the cheap,” he said. “The police and security services must get the resources they need, not 20,000 police cuts.”
The total number of police officers in England and Wales fell more than 19,500 from September 2010 to September 2016, according to the Home Office.
Authorized firearms officers — or armed police officers — declined to 5,639 in March 2016 from 6,976 in March 2010.
The government says, however, that the number of armed officers is to increase by more than 1,000 in the next two years, that additional specialist teams are being set up outside London, and that there will be 41 additional armed response vehicles.
Corbyn also accused the government of failing to publish a report, undertaken in early 2016, on foreign financing of extremist groups, for fear of upsetting foreign governments, although he himself is vulnerable on security issues.
Corbyn has demonstrated past support for Irish republicans and expressed doubts two years ago about a so-called shoot-to-kill policy for police officers during serious terrorist attacks.
Four officers were among the wounded in Saturday night’s attack. The victims are believed to have come from several countries, but only one has been identified publicly: Canadian Christine (Chrissy) Archibald.