Tunisia attacks: Warning off tourists stokes the fires of extremist discontent

A senior Cabinet minister claimed last week that the reason the Government urged British nationals to get out of Tunisia was that another terrorist attack was “imminent”. This contradicts his colleague, the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, who has stated: “We do not have any information suggesting a specific or imminent threat.” The security agencies and the French authorities – who have better intelligence on their former colony than us – also say they have no knowledge of a “specific and imminent” threat.