A plan by the home secretary to introduce counter-extremism powers to vet British broadcasters’ programmes before they are transmitted has been attacked in the bluntest terms as a threat to freedom of speech by one of her own Conservative cabinet colleagues, the Guardian has learned.



Sajid Javid wrote to David Cameron to say that, as culture secretary, he was unable to support Theresa May’s proposal to give Ofcom the new powers to take pre-emptive action against programmes that included “extremist content”, in a letter sent just before the start of the general election campaign.

Javid, who moved from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to become business secretary after the election, said the plan would move Ofcom from a regulator “into the role of a censor”. It would involve “a fundamental shift in the way UK broadcasting is regulated”, moving away from the current framework of post-transmission regulation which takes account of freedom of expression, he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sajid Javid’s letter to the prime minister.

The leaked memo from the then culture secretary came in response to a request made by May on 6 March to ministers on the cabinet’s home affairs committee and the national security committee. She was seeking clearance for publication of her extremism strategy, which included the broadcasters’ censorship proposal.



It is not clear exactly what the outcome was following Javid’s objection. Next week’s Queen’s speech is expected include loosely specified powers to “strengthen the role of Ofcom to take action against channels which broadcast extremist content” according to a statement released by Downing Street last week.

The home secretary last hinted at her wish to see the introduction of pre-broadcast banning powers in the immediate aftermath of the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich two years ago, when Conservative MPs expressed strong criticism of a BBC Newsnight interview with the radical Islamist activist Anjem Choudary.



May questioned what the BBC was doing in interviewing Choudary and said the government had to look at the role of Ofcom in relation to “what is being beamed into people’s homes”. But when the prime minister’s extremism task force reported in December 2013, it did not include any moves towards pre-broadcast censorship and the subject was presumed to have been dropped.

At the time the idea was compared to Margaret Thatcher’s move to tell broadcasters to deny terrorists the “oxygen of publicity”, which led to a full-scale row over a BBC decision to broadcast an extended interview with Martin McGuinness. That led to a journalists’ strike and, two years later, the resignation of the director general.

In Javid’s letter, dated 12 March, the minister voiced his concern about the risk that the revived censorship proposal would be used “otherwise than intended, not least given the difficulty of defining extremism, and the consequent likelihood of the government being seen to be interfering with freedom of speech without sufficient justification”.



Javid even went as far as adding: “It should be noted that other countries with a pre-transmission regulatory regime are not known for their compliance with rights relating to freedom of expression and government may not wish to be associated with such regimes.”

Objections from Javid and to a lesser extent from other senior Conservative cabinet ministers, including Eric Pickles, Theresa Villiers, Nicky Morgan and Chris Grayling, prevented the home secretary from publishing her extremism strategy, A Stronger Britain, before the election. The Javid leak undermines claims that it was the Lib Dems alone who blocked May’s extremism strategy in the coalition.



Last week’s Downing Street statement also confirmed there will be legislation to introduce new banning orders for extremist organisations, and extremism-disruption orders to “combat groups and individuals who reject our values and promote messages of hate”, which will deny their access to the airwaves and to social media.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Theresa May first voiced concerns about extremist views on television in the wake of the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in 2013. Photograph: Matt Dunham/PA

May has already revealed plans to require the Home Office “extremism analysis unit” to set out clearly for the first time which individuals and organisations the government and public sector should or should not engage with: “This will make sure nobody unwittingly lends legitimacy or credibility to extremists or extremist organisations.”

The commitment to produce legislation giving Ofcom a stronger role to take action against channels which broadcast extremist content suggests next week’s Queen’s speech will go much further than simply keeping its powers under regular review.



Ofcom, Javid’s letter said, already has strict rules to ensure that material that is likely to “incite hatred” is not broadcast on radio, television or in on-demand programmes. He says Ofcom has already taken “robust action against UK broadcasters which have breached these rules”.

The minister told the PM: “However, Ofcom does not have the powers to approve programmes before they are broadcast and nor do we consider that it should have these powers as has been proposed in paragraph 111 of the strategy.

“Extending Ofcom’s powers to enable it to take pre-emptive action would move it from its current position as a post-transmission regulator into the role of censor.”

The then culture secretary said he was unable to agree to the publication of May’s extremism strategy with the wording in paragraph 111 and suggested it be replaced with a paragraph setting out the previously agreed position that Ofcom’s powers be kept under regular review.

The Home Office said they refused to comment on leaked ministerial documents.