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UK facing most severe terror threat ever, warns MI5 chief

Oct 18, 2017 1:55 pm By Robert Spencer

Why on earth is this the case? Isn’t Britain a model multicultural paradise for the rest of the West? British authorities hound and persecute foes of jihad terror, and appease and accommodate Islamic supremacist groups. Why isn’t it working? Why do they still have jihad terror?

And if Andrew Parker thinks it’s bad now, just wait five years.

“UK facing most severe terror threat ever, warns MI5 chief,” by Vikram Dodd, Guardian, October 17, 2017 (thanks to David):

Britain is facing its most severe ever terrorist threat and fresh attacks in the country are inevitable, according to the head of Britain’s normally secretive domestic intelligence service in a rare public speech.

Andrew Parker, the director general of MI5, said the UK had seen “a dramatic upshift in the threat” from Islamist terrorism this year, reflecting attacks that have taken place in Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge.

The spy chief said: “That threat is multi-dimensional, evolving rapidly and operating at a scale and pace we’ve not seen before.”

He added: “It’s at the highest tempo I have seen in my 34-year career. Today there is more terrorist activity, coming at us more quickly, and it can be harder to detect.”

MI5 is under pressure to demonstrate its effectiveness after four Islamist terrorist attacks escaped its detection this year.

Parker’s speech to specialist security journalists on Tuesday was his chance to frame the debate about Britain’s battle against Islamist terrorism at a time when the agency’s staff numbers are already expanding from 4,000 to 5,000.

This month the government will receive reports on whether chances to thwart the atrocities were missed and what lessons could be learned. Ministers and the National Security Council wanted independent oversight of the review, in essence not allowing MI5 or counter-terrorism police to assess themselves. Oversight is being provided by the barrister David Anderson QC, a former government appointment as independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.

Parker said MI5 had stopped far more terror plots than those that caused mass casualties this year. He said 20 plots had been thwarted in the last four years.

Seven plots had been stopped before jihadists could strike in the last seven months alone, Parker added. “The threat is more diverse than I’ve ever known. Plots developed here in the UK, but plots directed from overseas as well. Plots online. Complex scheming and also crude stabbings; lengthy planning but also spontaneous attacks. Extremists of all ages, gender and backgrounds, united only by the toxic ideology of violent victory that drives them.”

He also defended the decisions made by his staff about which suspects posed the most danger to the public. “They get up and come to work every single day to make terrorist attacks less likely and to keep the country safe. They are constantly making tough professional judgments based on fragments of intelligence; pinpricks of light against a dark and shifting canvas. That is the job of MI5.”

The flurry of Islamist attacks this year claimed 36 lives. As well as the atrocities at Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge a bomb was left on a tube train at Parsons Green, west London, but failed to fully explode. On top of that was the Finsbury Park attack, which is blamed on an extreme rightwing motivation.

Parker added that military defeat in Syria and Iraq for Islamic State did not mean its threat would wane. “Meanwhile, Daesh [Isis] itself is under military pressure and is rapidly losing ground in its heartland in Syria and Iraq. So much so that it’s now advising would-be fighters to choose other countries … At the same time the Daesh brand has taken root in some other countries where areas of low governance give it space to grow.”

He said 100 Britons were believed to have died fighting for Isis and fresh danger was posed by the potential return of 850 more who had travelled to its territory, although a large influx had not yet materialised….

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Filed Under: Featured, United Kingdom Tagged With: Andrew Parker, MI5


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Comments

  1. Emilie Green says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 2:02 pm

    I keep thinking that the UK man/woman-in-the-street will finally get it after all these attacks in the UK and Europe. [You could throw in all the other Muslim attacks worldwide, but lets just stick with those that are nearby.]

    But they don’t. Which only means one thing. More attacks are on the way.

    • Michael Copeland says

      Oct 18, 2017 at 2:25 pm

      Some 60,000 marchers protested against violent terrorism in London some ten days or so ago.
      They were the Football Lads Alliance.
      Naturally the media barely gave them a mention.
      The man in the street is beginning to “get it”, even in spite of the media inadequacy.

      • gravenimage says

        Oct 18, 2017 at 3:21 pm

        Here’s this story:

        “Marches across London SHUT DOWN streets while EDL clashes break out across UK”

        http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/820888/EDL-London-London-Bridge-Police-Presence-Monument-St-Pauls-Latest-News

        So this is “chaos”, but Jihad terror attacks are not?

        • Andy says

          Oct 18, 2017 at 10:31 pm

          Here’s something to add to the gravenimage article.

          Football Lads Alliance + Vets March on London – 7th Oct

        • gravenimage says

          Oct 18, 2017 at 10:43 pm

          Thanks for the link, Andy.

        • Andy says

          Oct 18, 2017 at 11:48 pm

          My pleasure gravenimage

          Cheers!

          Andy

        • Jen says

          Oct 19, 2017 at 10:44 am

          Gives me the shivers and makes me deeply sad at the same time. Until the US, no country (or united political entity) in the history of human civilization has done so much good for so many people and now look at the state it’s in.

          They might not All articulate it, but I think the average man/woman in the UK DOES GET IT. It’s just that the next step is so disturbing to think of. The muslim population would love to create anarchy and let’s face it—they have the stomach for it but I don’t think the same is true of the Brits. Civil war is a terrifying prospect.

    • Sons of Liberty says

      Oct 18, 2017 at 3:30 pm

      The TOXIC IDEOLOGY of VIOLENT VICTORY ? Now that’s a good way to describe ISLAM that I had not seen before ,..even though it completely escapes him . The BLIND leading the BLIND ! Where is Sherlock Holmes when you need him ?

      • Michael Copeland says

        Oct 18, 2017 at 4:46 pm

        “a poisonous and extremist ideology” carried out by “warped and barbaric” extremists is how David Cameron expressed it.
        And so the fog continues.

    • Chand says

      Oct 20, 2017 at 12:50 am

      Jen says:”………….no country (or united political entity) in the history of human civilization has done so much good for so many people…………..”

      Ya, sure. And a whole lot of bad too. Or are you forgetting the countless lives tormented and destroyed by the Great British Empire all over the globe over all those centuries?

      Yes, admitted that they built railroads (for their own benefit of transporting goods that they looted to take to the ports to trade and ship back to England and for the colonial masters to travel to nice, scenic spots in the country) and schools (to teach the natives English to make them effective servants), etc. But the amount looted by the Queens and Kings OF England is still being calculated………………….

      Even then it is certainly not the fault the British people alive today or even the commoners alive then.

      But don’t give me this pious ‘so much good for so many people’ fable.

  2. fbijihadidefender says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 2:18 pm

    UK voters have to cast their ballot wisely, otherwise the politician will force the voters to surrender to Islamic laws.

  3. Michael Copeland says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 2:22 pm

    That “toxic ideology of violent victory”.
    What could it be?
    That is a real head-scratcher.

    • Westman says

      Oct 18, 2017 at 2:41 pm

      “violent victory?” Mi5 still has it wrong. In that “unknown ideology” a man also gets to Jannah even if he is killed and defeated while fighting the infidels.

      It is inconceivable in the government mind that a man would gladly choose suicide by warring when retiring to fight another day is the wiser choice. But then they don’t take the time to read and look past the apologist’s smile and silver tongue. War is deceit, indeed.

  4. Papa Whiskey says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 2:38 pm

    Parker added. “The threat is more diverse than I’ve ever known.”

    Mission accomplished! Celebrate diversity!

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 18, 2017 at 3:29 pm

      Grimly hilarious, Papa Whiskey.

      And of course, this is not really accurate, in any case. While the threat is more widespread than ever before, it is not really “more diverse”. Virtually the entire threat comes from Muslims.

  5. Hugh Fitzgerald says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 2:46 pm

    For “Extremists of all ages, gender and backgrounds, united only by the toxic ideology of violent victory that drives them.”

    Read: “Muslims of all ages, genders and backgrounds, united only by the toxic ideology of violent victory that drives them.”

    You’re the head of MI5. You can risk telling the truth. It’s your duty both to protect and instruct.

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 18, 2017 at 3:40 pm

      Spot on, Hugh.

  6. gravenimage says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 2:59 pm

    UK facing most severe terror threat ever, warns MI5 chief
    …………………….

    And this will be a walk in the park if Britain keeps letting in more and more ravening Muslims.

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 18, 2017 at 3:01 pm

      I meant to say:

      And this will be a walk in the park compared to the situation in a few years if Britain keeps letting in more and more ravening Muslims.

  7. Peter says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 3:47 pm

    The only British solution: stay calm, dig your head deeper into the sand.

    • Lydia says

      Oct 18, 2017 at 7:53 pm

      It should read:

      Keep calm… and carry a big gun.

  8. Sarah says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 5:11 pm

    Brain dead idiot. All of them are idiots.

    How he can stand there with a straight face and release that statement, is beyond me. No, you do not deserve recognition for a hard job well done, or for foiling 20 odd plots. Why? Because the UNITED KINGDOM should have never been exposed to this threat to begin with.

    The United Kingdom should have never opened the floodgates, should have never insisted on multiculturism as the way forward, should have never preached at the altar of ‘human rights’ and EU madness over basic common sense.

    People are dying. Kids are dying. Citizens of the UK are being slaughtered in their own streets – because of treasonous, traitorous bastard’s like this thin lipped fool. Bastards who made the decisions to follow a political ideology and dump this nightmare on the people of the UK.

    And you want a pat on the back, after refusing to acknowledge all that blood on your hands, for foiling 20 odd plots? Every single plot you foil, or investigate and every single plot that is succesfully carried out – is iron hard proof of how you’ve all failed the people of the United Kingdom.

    It beggars belief that the dude running the intelligence show in the UK can actually make a statement about foiling these plots, and working so hard to try and keep people safe – whilst never acknowledging how and why this all came about – and therefore – how to fix it and never ever repeat the same mistakes again.

    Oh and by the way – if you’re dealing with ‘fragments’ and ‘whispers’ with your work – I’ll give you a clue. Watch every single Muslim. Doesn’t matter where they’re born, whether they’re a convert or not. Female or Male. Whatever their age. If they are a Muslim – get a register together and haunt their steps. That’s how you’ll prevent more bloodshed.

    Because we all know its not the Jewish, or the Hindus or the Buddhists, or the Sikh’s or Christians or Atheists etc etc who are doing this. Just focus on the dirty rotten Muslims.

  9. I wonder about leftists says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 5:51 pm

    Mi 15.You must be a very intelligent bunch to come with this message now, you are about 10 a 15 years too late. You should have advised your government 10 a 15 years ago. Do you really believe you will be spared if worse comes to worse. I can only laugh sarcastically and I don’t really laugh, because you took the people along, who warned you and dared to speak out. You helped to take away our freedom of speech, you let those barbarians kill and rape your own citizens and you give persons who are criticising
    those barbarians 15 years in prison. Know your government when you have critics, and we know now.

    Thanks and thanks for your antisemitisme too. I wonder what deals you made during the 2nd world war.
    I don’t believe any history book any more, most people must have written them for their own advantage
    and how well and heroic their country was. We know better now.

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 18, 2017 at 10:48 pm

      You don’t believe that Britain was heroic for opposing Hitler during WWII? Why not?

  10. No Fear says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    The headline should read: “Multicultural paradise faces greatest ever terror threat”

    • Santa Voorhees says

      Oct 18, 2017 at 6:21 pm

      Just get rid of Islam! It can never be part of a multicultural society. They cannot even stand each other, let alone coexist with other cultures!

  11. Charlie Martel says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    How are European Christian leaders being warped and silenced on Islam?
    Why are Rat Lanes operating again?
    How did the fish rot from the head?

  12. Lydia says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 7:52 pm

    Giving it five years is a very generous estimate!
    I doubt they have that long.

  13. Lydia says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 8:00 pm

    You wanna know what the most severe terror threat ever is?

    These traitorous ‘leaders’ who have sold out and betrayed their people by letting in all these dangerous jihadists who commit terrorist acts!

    That’s where it all began in Europe, the ‘leaders’ who have sold out gave them all the green light to come up on that highway from hell packed with terrorists.

  14. LeftisruiningCanada says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 8:55 pm

    Is this rare speech from MI5 the closest thing to admitting the problem is out of control that a government agency can make?
    As said above, this will only get harder and harder to fight against. When does it become impossible to contain tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of people who want every non believer around them dead, and every trace of western culture done away with?
    Can’t be much longer, in my low-value opinion.

  15. Flavius Claudius Iulianus says

    Oct 18, 2017 at 11:32 pm

    Oh he just realized this now. Twit.

  16. MFritz says

    Oct 19, 2017 at 12:21 am

    At least in one (single) aspect he’s right. UK has the worst government of its history and the whole population is under permanent and severe thread thanks to its policies. And don’t consider May and her globalist ilk “stupid” in any way. They know exactly what they are doing.

  17. Matthieu Baudin says

    Oct 19, 2017 at 2:59 am

    “… Parker said MI5 had stopped far more terror plots than those that caused mass casualties this year. He said 20 plots had been thwarted in the last four years…”

    Well I expect that’s what counts – so long as the authorities can demonstrate that more bombs and violent plots are thwarted than succeed, we can all rest assured; what are a hundred dead teenagers at a concert when several hundred hypothetical lives have been spared. Perhaps the respective British and French agencies could compare figures and ascertain the degree of their success.

  18. Marc Sanders says

    Oct 19, 2017 at 5:13 am

    There are no terror attacks in Britain any more. Only workplace violence, cultural misunderstandings, sexual emergencies, bouts of mental illness, and the desire to share religion. So what are they so worried about?

    • MFritz says

      Oct 19, 2017 at 5:15 am

      AND the problems mostly originate from Asians and PTSD, so no problem with islam whatsoever. 😉

  19. Joe says

    Oct 19, 2017 at 8:18 am

    “united only by the toxic ideology” is the motivation that he used. Please note the word, “the”, which is singular as in ONE ideology. Then all you have to do is figure out what that ideology is and criminalize it. Why do I suspect that these crack investigators will not discover the “toxic ideology”.

  20. steve009 says

    Oct 19, 2017 at 9:47 am

    It has now been long past time that the ‘British’ people DID rise and protect our families and OUR country. Ilams does not belong in ANY civilised country and unless they stop their barbaric and sick ways they never will.

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