Defence Secretary Responds To Criticism After "Dead Terrorists Can't Harm Us" Comments

The Defence Secretary has insisted "the British people want to make sure that our streets are safe" after being criticised for saying Islamist fighters should be hunted down and killed.

Gavin Williamson was accused of pursuing a policy that "belongs in a Netflix series" after saying Britons who have fought for so-called Islamic State should never be allowed to come back to this country.

During an interview yesterday, the Defence Secretary said those who were intent on bringing "destruction, death and bloodshed" onto the streets of Britain were being "hunted down" and that threat "eliminated".

However, following criticism for the comments, Gavin Williamson refused to back down, saying: "The British people want to make sure that our streets are safe.

"The British people are incredibly proud of our Armed Forces; the work they do - making sure that the people who are a threat to this country are not able to continue to threaten this country."

"That's what the British people want to know that their government is doing. That is what we will continue to do."

Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded UK forces in Afghanistan, supported the defence secretary when speaking to the Daily Mail:

"We are fighting a war against these people. You don’t fight a war by constantly taking prisoners, you fight a war by killing your enemy.

"If you are dealing with terrorists who returned from Syria and Iraq and try to prosecute them, it is very hard to get sufficient evidence to do so. That's a real danger, because it ends up with these returnees back on the street."

One parliamentarian outraged by yesterday’s comments was Liberal Democrat's defence spokesman, Lord Menzies Campbell, he claimed the defence secretary appeared to be endorsing breaches of humanitarian law.

Labour MP and former paratrooper Dan Jarvis also voiced his concerns, saying Williamson’s comments were, "morally, legally and practically wrong".

Number 10 chose to use more measured language when repeating the warning of former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon. Downing Street remarked Britons who fight alongside the UK’s enemies in Syria and Iraq make themselves a “legitimate target”.

Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokesman said measures already existed to cancel IS fighters' British passports and ensure that those who return to the UK face police investigation and possible prosecution.

The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Max Hill QC, took to Twitter to voice his thoughts: "My only comment on the Defence Secretary's views about UK citizens fighting for IS: criminal prosecution inevitable in most cases where UK citizens return, and where evidence of committing serious criminal offences [exists]."

Mr Williamson had told the Mail in the original interview:

"I do not believe that any terrorist, whether they come from this country or any other, should ever be allowed back into this country."

And he added: "Our job in terms of eliminating will not stop this year, will not stop next year, it is something we have got to continue to pursue."

He said:

"A dead terrorist can't cause any harm to Britain."

Former director of public prosecutions Lord Macdonald objected to that notion, telling BBC Radio 4's World at One: "It simply will not be lawful in all circumstances to kill jihadis, as the secretary of state seems to be suggesting.

"A policy which says we will simply kill every individual who has travelled to Syria or to Iraq, even if they are surrendering, even if they have laid down their weapons, is really a policy that belongs in a Netflix series more seriously than it belongs in the range of policies that should be being applied by the UK Government.

"We can't simply say that everyone who has gone to Iraq will now be hunted down and killed. That's a juvenile response. It's not a serious, grown-up policy response for a senior British Government minister."

Cover photo: PA