Over at his Independent blog Ben Chu draws our attention to the interesting coincidence that Quilliam and Paul Goodman have simultaneously issued a call for Lord Carlile to be appointed overseer of the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy.

Carlile is a Liberal Democrat, but he is notorious for rejecting his party’s line that defence against the threat of terrorism doesn’t justify attacks on civil liberties. As Chu points out, Carlile has been a vocal critic of the Lib Dems’ opposition to control orders. He has also condemned the European Court of Human Rights for ruling that terror suspects cannot be deported to their country of origin if they face torture there.

Chu observes that “Quilliam’s championing of the peer for the role of counter-terror tsar is not going to change the mind of those Muslims who regard the think tank with suspicion”.