Remember Remember the Fifth of November

Yesterday, Jonathan Evans, the current head of MI5, spoke to the Society of Editors. No doubt he enjoyed the delicious irony of speaking about the threat of terrorism on the anniversary of one of England most infamous conspiracies. This was his V moment. Looking at his speech I am surprised he did not work in the rhyme ‘Remember remember the fifth of November. Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder, treason should ever be forgot...’

When a head of Five makes a speech, you can expect polished pebbles of truth to be hidden amongst the shingle. The double-speak of spooks means that even when lying, they often cannot help but hint at what is really going on. The sales patter may all be about ramping up the culture of fear, but the genuine fact built into the spiel is always instructive.

Evans spoke of the violence directed against Britain as 'the product of a much wider extremist ideology, whose basic tenets were inimical to tolerance and liberty, the basis of Britain's democracy'. He was of course entirely accurate. Yet the truth I took from his words was that when we find ourselves caught in the crossfire of the manufactured war against Islam, we should remember all those scared of freedom and acceptant of difference are to blame. By Evan's definition, one of the most dangerous extremist ideologies we face – one that has proven time and time again to be inimical to tolerance and liberty – comes from both the Bush administration in the United States and the British government itself.