Community values

LIKE every prime minister, David Cameron is entitled to a holiday. The relentless demands of the job necessitate this – but it was ill-advised of the Tory leader to allow himself to be photographed relaxing in Ibiza while Britain is still coming to terms with the senseless murder of Drummer Lee Rigby and the repercussions for community cohesion.

Yet, like former home secretary Alan Johnson who says surveillance laws must be tightened to enable the police and M15 to monitor mobile phone records and internet use, Hazel Blears – a counter-terrorism minister in David Blunkett’s era – is right when she says that more action is needed locally to counter the radicalisation of young Muslims.

Both are points that Mr Cameron needs to heed when his new Downing Street task force does finally meet. While the coalition clearly had its reasons for scaling back the Prevent strategy set up by the last Labour government, community-led initiatives need to function alongside the work of M15.

For, while segregation is still an issue in some areas of Yorkshire, the tributes paid by the Muslim community to Drummer Rigby indicate their disdain for his killers, and those preachers of hate who refuse to condemn such atrocities.

Given this, it is even more regrettable that petrol bombs were hurled at Grimsby Islamic Cultural Centre, and that some mosques in the area have been vandalised. Such lawlessness will not lead to improved community relations that Ms Blears advocates, and which now needs to be the subject of renewed focus by Mr Cameron. After all, this issue is too important to be left to the tribalism that normally symbolises debate between Conservative and Labour leaders – there should be no exclusivity on ideas when it comes to national security.