Former home secretary Jack Straw has weighed into a debate on whether or not religious extremists should be allowed to preach hatred on TV by warning that any overt ban would only empower them.
Straw's intervention comes in the wake of current home secretary Theresa May’s announcement that she would ask regulators to block extremists from broadcasting their views in the wake of public outcry the BBCs decision to interview extremist group leader Anjem Choudary.
Speaking during the Hay Festival Straw said: “You have to be very careful indeed about depriving people space to utter opinions that the rest of us don’t like.
“One of the most intolerant and least successful measures that the Conservative government introduced was a decision to ban the IRA people from the airwaves. Actors had to do it.
“It was a great recruiting sergeant for them. The point about living in a democracy is that you have to put up with people expressing views you really disagree with.”
Broadcast regulator Ofcom currently only has the power to intervene after content has been aired, rendering them powerless to interfere in the editorial decisions of broadcasters.