He suggests that Britain must use its “defence budget” to stop the establishment of a “terrorist caliphate” in the Middle East or a “tide of terror will eventually lap at our own front door”.
His intervention came as Britain’s ambassador to the US said intelligence agents believe they have identified the “jihadi John”, the Briton responsible for beheading US journalist James Foley, after employing sophitsticated voice recognition technology.
Peter Westmacott, the UK’s ambassador to Washington, also disclosed that 70 militants have been arrested after returning from Syria, a number of them carrying instructions for “very specific missions” to unleash terrorist atrocities on British soil.
Mr Johnson says that Britain needs to help “close down” the Islamic caliphate before it is too late, adding that “doing nothing is surely worst of all”.
He says: “If we let Isil get their way, then we will be acquiescing, first, in a gigantic and violent change in international borders.
“Next, we will be allowing a new and hideous regime to be born, a country where black-flag waving jihadis compete to show they have the most bigoted and reactionary understanding of their religion by persecuting women, Jews, Christians, gays, Yazidis ande Shiites.
“The place would be a giant training ground for terrorists and wannabe jihadis. We need to try to close it down now, before it gets worse.”
Senior lawyers said that Mr Johnson’s proposals for “rebuttable presumption” would mark a “profound change” to British law.
Earlier this year, David Cameron announced new laws under which terrorist offences committed in Syria will be prosecuted as if they have taken place on British soil.
The lawyers said Johnson’s plans will go significantly further by shifting the burden of proof from police and prosecutors onto suspected jihadists.
Mr Johnson also says that suspected terrorists who do not return to Britain and “continue to give allegiance” to Isil should be stripped of their citizenship. Similar calls have been made by David Davis, the Tory MP, and Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.
He challenges the Liberal Democrats to support control orders, which were axed by the Coalition amid concerns that they infringed on human rights.
On Sunday it emerged that Peter Theo Curtis, an American journalist kidnapped nearly two years ago, has been freed in Syria and handed over to UN officials.
Well said Boris…Britain needs to get much much tougher. Unthinkable perils could lie ahead for the free world by adopting a half-hearted approach to these slaughtering butchers….It will take a hell of a lot more than we’re prepared to commit to at present to defeat Satan’s Army!
Its no good attacking the symptoms without addressing the cause which is the Sunni Islam ideology itself including the self-proclaimed moderates who support execution of homosexuals for example, but fudge it by saying , but only in a House of Islam, i.e. in a caliphate or emirate. But the hate seed is planted in the heads of the violent stupid and vulnerable who become jihadis
I don;t think Boris was directly calling for the death by bombing of this one particular murderer as seems to be reported, or he would surely also be calling for the deaths of the murderers of lee Rigby. This was a casual statement regarding the wishes of these maniacs to die in battle. It would do no good to bomb them for others will rise up in their place. Bring them to justice for their crimes, that is our way, show we are better than them. Try to educate them. People have been doing awful things to people for centuries, only now do we have it being shown on unmonitored and uncensored internet.
Gordon had his head put on a spike last century, it is all horrible and revolting but more killing from us will not stop it, it will only sow the seeds for more cannon fodder to be trained to kill westerners.
I remember when a man of unerring principle wrote this about detention without trial….what’s changed Boris, aside from your being in power now rather than carping from the sidelines?
“Of course terrorist suspects should be rounded up. Of course we should crack down hard on anyone to do with al-Qa’eda. But it must remain an inalienable principle of our law that, if the state has enough evidence to incarcerate someone, then it must have enough evidence to put him on trial.”
David Cameron makes it many years as if Britain would not have other problems, just the Europeans immigration here. Congratulation to Mr. Johnson that he stated, there are other dangers as well.