CABINET Minister Ruth Kelly has held talks with police and council officials in the drive to root out extremists from Muslim and other communities.
The Bolton West MP's hour-long meeting at a London hotel was intended to draw a line under the increasingly bitter religious rows of recent weeks by emphasising that extremism was not just an issue for Muslims.
Later, Communities Secretary Ms Kelly said it had been a "really constructive" meeting. "I detected a sense of enthusiasm and ambition to work together on this shared agenda," she said.
The talks were attended by representatives from about 20 "key" local councils and senior police officers, including Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman, who is responsible for anti-terrorist operations.
Ms Kelly pressed officials on whether they were doing enough to tackle extremism in schools, colleges and universities, and whether they had identified "hot spot" neighbourhoods and sections of the community which could be breeding grounds.
She told them that in major parts of the country the "new extremism" was the single biggest security issue for communities.
Poisonous
"This is not just a problem for Muslim communities," she said. "The far right is still with us, still poisonous, still trying to create and exploit divisions
"Extremism is an issue for all of us. We all must play our part in responding to it. The world has changed since 9/11 and 7/7."
Her comments came after two weeks in which the simmering row over religious tensions had reached boiling point.
It began with comments by Commons Leader Jack Straw urging Muslim women to abandon the face veil, warning that it was a "visible statement of difference" and a barrier to good community relations.
At the weekend, a Muslim teaching assistant's refusal to remove her veil became a new focal point for increasingly bitter exchanges between senior politicians and Muslim groups.
Race Minister Phil Woolas demanded that 24-year-old Aishah Azmi - already suspended - should be sacked, accusing her of "denying the right of children to a full education".
He said Ms Azmi's stand meant she could not "do her job" at Headfield C of E junior school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and insisted barring men from working with her would amount to "sexual discrimination". But the Muslim Council of Britain quickly condemned Mr Woolas for his "outrageous" and "reckless" foray into a matter "that should be decided by the school - and if necessary by the courts".
Ms Kelly denied that ministers were stigmatising the Muslim community. But she said action was necessary to deal with the scale of the Islamist threat.
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What a joke ?we have a government who dosnt know how many illegal immigrants we have in britain ?And dosnt know where they are? The legal system is in tatters with immigrants fighting deportation ?And they want a war on extremism? This government want to wake up from this sleep they have been in??
It's interesting that the new definition of extremist is somebody that wants to cling on to their identity.
Sixty years ago, the government were the extremists by wanting to break down the national identity.
Now they are trying to tell us all that it is perfectly normal behaviour to want to lose our identities.
It seems that the majority will always be the minority, no matter what the cause.
The government makes the decisions today, that our children tomorrow will live to regret.
De-regulation of public transport anyone?
This Government has created the divisions that Ruth Kelly claims the far right is exploiting. And let's face it, it isn't difficult for them to do. People don't want to live in a 'mini league of nations' with competing and conflicting sets of values. Trevor Philips of the Commission for Racial Equality realised as much when he said that multiculturalism has failed. What people want is (a) a Britain with British values, and (b) security in the knowledge that anyone coming to live in Britain will be expected to integrate fully (ie speak the language, get a job, etc) and not be permitted to form their own little enclaves. It's not much to ask and if this Government (a misnomer if ever there was one) can't provide it then it can hardly complain if voters go elsewhere.