I know a bit about the threat management of violent extremists. In 2015 Michael Gove, who was then justice secretary, asked me to conduct an independent review of Islamist extremism in the prisons and probation system in England and Wales.
With the help of a small expert team, we visited dozens of prisons at home and abroad. More than 1,000 prison staff corroborated our findings in a survey that was originally opposed by Michael Spurr, then chief executive of HM Prison and Probation Service, who had to be overruled by Gove. What we found was so shockingly bad that I had to agree to the language in the original report being toned down. With hindsight, I’m not sure that was the right decision.
There were
