What’s in it for Keir Starmer? Gaining the votes of those in Britain who are sympathetic to jihad activity. But what are the long-term prospects for Britain in pandering to such people? Dim.
“Revealed: Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer led the charge to allow ISIS bride Shamima Begum to return to Britain amid signs of a split among Tory MPs,” by James Heale and Brendan Carlin, The Mail on Sunday, July 18, 2020:
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer led the charge to allow Islamic State bride Shamima Begum to return to the UK last year – despite fears she would endanger British lives.
As a member of Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet, Sir Keir said in March 2019 that stripping Begum of her British citizenship ‘was the wrong decision’ and ‘a rushed decision’.
Begum, now 20, left Britain in 2015 to join the jihad in Syria, with security sources telling this newspaper that she was seen stitching suicide bombers into explosive vests.
A British-Bangladesh dual national, Begum, who married Dutch-born IS fighter Yago Riedijk in Syria, had her British citizenship stripped in February 2019 but the Court of Appeal ruled last week that she should be allowed to return to fight this decision.
Challenged on Sir Keir’s previous remarks, Labour last night insisted: ‘We will not be welcoming the prospect of anyone returning to this country who wish us harm.’…
There have been signs of a split among Tory MPs on the issue.
Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid has warned that allowing Begum back would ‘create a national security risk’….