Diane Abbott called for the ‘abolition of MI5’ — Labour can’t handle our security and counter-terrorism

Priti Patel, Home Secretary

Published: 0:22, 1 Dec 2019

WHEN you accept the job of Home Secretary, sadly you know there will be days like Friday.

If it wasn’t for our police and the extraordinary heroism of a few Londoners, it could have been an even darker day.

I don’t believe that Diane Abbott would sign off surveillance ops against terror suspects

The harsh reality is that there are more depraved individuals like Usman Khan out there who hate this country and its values.

Every day, I sign a huge pile of warrants that authorise the police, National Crime Agency and MI5 to mount surveillance ops against people suspected of plotting attacks.

Some of the things I read are chilling but this process helps lead to arrests and the foiling of terror plots. No fewer than 24 have been thwarted in the past two years.

I simply don’t believe that Diane Abbott, who will become Home Secretary if we don’t secure a Tory government on December 12, would sign off operations that make attacks like the one on London Bridge a rarity.

After all, she called for “the abolition of conspiratorial groups like MI5”. And we know Jeremy Corbyn disapproves of police using “shoot to kill” tactics against terrorists.

His Labour is not like any Labour Party that has been in government.

I might not agree with former Home Secretaries Jack Straw and David Blunkett, but I never doubted their commitment to national security.

I cannot say the same for the current crop who have spent their political lives criticising our police and security services while praising terror groups.

Staggeringly, because of a law introduced by Labour in 2008, Usman Khan was automatically released from prison without having to appear in front of the parole board.