Clarke: Foolish not to expect another terror attack
Charles Clarke has praised the work of police and security services in the wake of the London bombings but said it would be “absolutely foolish” to suggest the risk had been eliminated.
Speaking following a meeting with Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair, the home secretary said investigations into the July 7th and July 21st attacks had made “fantastic progress” and were ongoing.
He said the meetings Home Office minister Hazel Blears was holding with members of the Muslim community were “proceeding at pace”, particularly in establishing ways to work together to isolate extremism.
And Mr Clarke stressed that the government was behind him and Tony Blair in pushing for tightened anti-terror legislation, and said he would continue to use his powers of deportation on anyone whose presence he believes “is not in the public good”.
“But we remain worried. The commissioner has been clear that it would be ridiculous to assume that a further act would not take place,” the home secretary said on his first public appearance since returning from holiday.
He said the police and security services were working hard to identify any links between the two attacks and other possible groups, but added that it would be “absolutely foolish for me or anybody else to say that we have eliminated the risk”.
Sir Ian confirmed this, saying that “logic” decreed that because there were two attacks in London, it was more likely that there would be further attacks than if there had just been one.
Questioned about using his deportation powers to detain ten foreign nationals last week, Mr Clarke said that they had occurred after a “very intense series of discussions” with destination countries to ensure deportees would not face torture or ill-treatment.
“I obviously want the legal process to take as little time as possible and that’s the basis on which we work,” he said, adding that the individuals concerned would until that point be detained where they were removed from causing any harm.
