Sunak wants to punish those who ‘vilify the UK’. That’s wrong – and he’s chosen the wrong target

‘Rishi Sunak does not seem to have listened to what the experts are saying.’ Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Rishi Sunak promises new leadership for the UK, but that doesn’t seem to be attracting enough support from the Conservative “selectorate”, so this is what he is promising today: he will double down on the failing Prevent strategy, by pivoting to targeting “Islamist extremism” and those who “vilify” the United Kingdom.

This would require some agility, so Sunak promises to widen the already fuzzy government definition of extremism – criticised widely for being too expansive – to encompass those who “vilify our country”.