DEMOCRACY is under threat, campaigners warned today as the Tories launched a new “anti-extremism” drive aimed mainly against Muslims.

Communities Secretary Michael Gove named three Muslim organisations in the Commons as he unveiled the government’s new definition of extremism, apparently responding to the mass movement of solidarity with the Palestinian people that has mushroomed over the last five months.

One of the organisations named by Mr Gove, the Muslim Association of Britain, has been part of the coalition of five groups organising the national demonstrations.

The others singled out by the Tories are Mend and Cage. For show, two obscure far-right groups, British National Socialist Movement and Patriotic Alternative, were also identified.

The five pro-Palestinian campaigns, which include Stop the War and Palestine Solidarity, said in a statement that the “redefinition of extremism is in reality an assault on core democratic freedoms, seeking to silence dissenting voices.”

Stressing “the fundamental right to legitimately campaign to change government policy,” the joint statement added that “the marches have been overwhelmingly peaceful and attended by a broad cross-section of British society.

“We are united as a coalition and will not allow Gove’s intervention to distract us from standing in solidarity with a people confronting genocide, ethnic cleansing, occupation and apartheid.”

The core of the definition of extremism presented by Mr Gove is “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights.”

Organisations, including those named today, are to be investigated to see whether they should be denied any access to government ministers or public funding. 

There will be no appeal against being dubbed “extremist” and a fuller list of “extremist organisations” will be published in the coming weeks.

Not extremist, according to Mr Gove, are Tory donor Frank Hester who called for MP Diane Abbott to be shot and GB News owner Paul Marshall, who liked several Islamophobic tweets.

The measures drew broad opposition, not including the Labour front bench.

Tory former minister Kit Malthouse said he was “alarmed at the emergence of this new definition” and back-bench rightwinger Miriam Cates said the government risked “criminalising or at the very least chilling speech of people who have perfectly legitimate, harmless views.”

Veteran right-wing MP Edward Leigh demanded reassurance that free speech would be protected. “I may be offended if people make extreme attacks on Christianity but they have an absolute right to do so,” he said.

From the left, George Galloway pointed out that sometimes “those reviled as extremists turn out to have been right all along” and Jeremy Corbyn said that the definition could have caught those who campaigned against apartheid or for peace in Northern Ireland.

However, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner struck a very different tone, appearing to indicate that the Tories had not gone far enough.

“Hateful extremism threatens the safety of our communities and the unity of our country,” she said, adding that it “is a serious problem that needs serious action and tinkering with a new definition is not enough.

“Any suggestion that the government has been engaging with groups that they’ve now decided are extremists raises serious questions over why it has taken so long to act.”

Mr Gove praised her “constructive” attitude. 

Amnesty International chief executive Sacha Deshmukh warned that “this attempt to stigmatise legitimate, peaceful political activity is taking us further down the road towards authoritarianism.”

And London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was nervous that Mr Gove’s measures risked driving Muslim groups underground and inculcate a “them and us” attitude in their communities.