Robin Simcox | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Robin Simcox in 2020 | |
| Commissioner for Countering Extremism | |
| Assumed office July 2022 | |
| Appointed by | Priti Patel |
| Preceded by | Himself |
| Interim Commissioner for Countering Extremism | |
| In office March 2021 – July 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Sara Khan |
| Succeeded by | Himself |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 1983 (age 42) |
| Alma mater | |
Robin Simcox (born March 1983) is a political researcher who is the currentCommissioner for Countering Extremism (CCE) at the United Kingdom'sHome Office.
Simcox graduated from theUniversity of Leeds with aBachelor of Arts degree ininternational history, and from theInstitute for the Study of the Americas at theUniversity of London with aMaster of Science degree inUS foreign policy.[1]
In 2009, Simcox worked as aresearch fellow at the conservativeCentre for Social Cohesion (CSC) think tank,[2] at which he wrote a report on the Middle Eastern, Asian and Russian donors ofUK universities,[3] and later at theHenry Jackson Society when the CSC was subsumed into it in 2011. That year, he wrote inThe Weekly Standard that whileDavid Cameron's policies wereneoconservative, the prime minister was "at pains not to be tarred with the neoconservative brush", as well as that neoconservatives' opponents had "hijacked the term" and that it should be taken back.[4]
He joinedThe Heritage Foundation'sMargaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom in January 2016 and became a Margaret Thatcher Fellow, specialising incounterterrorism.[5][6] In a 2016 article, Simcox rejected the term "violent extremism" and argued that it was "dreamed up as a way to avoid saying 'Islamic' or 'Islamist' extremism in the months after theJuly 2005 suicide bombings in London".[7] In a tweet in June 2019, he defended YouTuberMark Meechan, also known as Count Dankula, who was convicted over a video showing a dog performing Nazi salutes.[6] In another September 2019 article, he called for prime ministerBoris Johnson to "push back on 'Islamophobia'" as a term used by the left, and to be "wary" of an internal review of theConservative Party, while also stating thatExtinction Rebellion,Unite Against Fascism and thefar left "need monitoring". He left the Heritage Foundation to found the Counter Extremism Group in July 2020.[6]
In March 2021, home secretaryPriti Patel appointed Simcox as commissioner of theCommission for Countering Extremism in an interim capacity, replacingSara Khan.[5][6][8] Patel officially appointed Simcox as commissioner in July 2022 for a three-year term.[5][1] In 2019, he had stated, in response to a report by the CCE, that the UK's official definition of ahate crime was "far too broad".[6] He organised a Countering Extremism conference on 1 March 2023, at which home secretarySuella Braverman made a speech onpolitical correctness.[9] In August 2023,The Independent noted that since his appointment, the CCE had "published no new research or scrutiny of government policy".[10]
In October 2023, following the beginning of theGaza war, Simcox argued inThe Times that the UK was a "permissive environment" forantisemitism, and that the country was bearing the cost of a "three-decade long failed policy mix ofmass migration andmulticulturalism".Tom Tugendhat, theMinister of State for Security, denied this and argued that threats to all communities were taken "extremely seriously".[5][11] He conducted his first broadcast interview on 18 October onNewsnight withMark Urban.[12] On 19 October, Simcox called for theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran to be proscribed as aterrorist organisation in a speech to theRoyal United Services Institute think tank, his first as CCE Commissioner.[13][14][11] In the same speech, he argued that the pro-Palestinian "from the river to the sea" chant should be seen as "genocidal in nature" and thatenvironmental groups would "become increasingly militant and that acts of violence will be the logical end". The speech was criticised byanti-racism advocacy groupHope not Hate, which argued that "he omits the danger of risinganti-Muslim hate and plays down the very real threat of thefar right".[15]
In March 2024, he wrote in an article inThe Daily Telegraph that London was a "no-go zone for Jews", in response to pro-Palestinian marches, and stated that ministers should "be willing to accept higher legal risk" when tackling extremism.[16] In February 2025, the Home Office announced an open competition to appoint Simcox's successor in the Commissioner for Countering Extremism role, with security ministerDan Jarvis thanking him for his work.[17]