Cameron promises "16,000 officers tonight"
The PM also announces that Parliament will be recalled for a day on Thursday.
By George Eaton Published 09 August 2011 12:40
Standing outside No. 10, David Cameron has just delivered a short and to the point statement on last night's riots. As expected, he announced that Parliament would be recalled for a day on Thursday so that "we are all able to stand together in condemnation of these crimes".
After the police, by their own admission, were "stretched beyond belief", the PM also announced that compared with the 6,000 police on the streets last night in London, "there will be some 16,000 officers tonight". He added that all leave within the Met had been cancelled and that assistance would be provided by other forces around the country. Cameron pledged to do "everything necessary to restore order" but, in line with Theresa May, said nothing to suggest that we're about to see water cannon and rubber bulletts deployed. Tory MEP Roger Helmer, who has called for the army to "shoot looters and arsonists on sight" will be left to bemoan his leader's feebleness.
Cameron wisely chose not to speculate about "the causes" of last night's destruction, instead offering a simple, unambiguous condemnation. "This is criminality, pure and simple," he said. "And it has to be confronted and defeated." The first test of his resolve will come tonight.
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29 comments
Once the vigilantees start beating up a few looting kids it'll all stop.
writeon; get your woolly head out of those silly history books.
Livers and matthew fox, you two were made for each other. Two left-wing half wits make one full wit. Or in your case two twits.
LOOTING- its cameron/osborneetc
DEFICIT- its cameron/Osborne
SCHOOLS- its cameron/Osborne
RAINING- it's cameron and osborne
u get me? zzzzzzzzzz
p j wal, matthew fox, Livers. There no justification or excuses for this savagery. People have lost their lives and livelihoods. Community relations 'damaged' I very rarely make comments. Decent people from all 'communties' need to be out on the streets this evening, and show their total support for the police.
I remember Clegg complaining about the number of CCTV cameras infringing on our civil liberties...what his opinion now....
@ PJ Wall
you're right, this one does make me angry, because I work so damn hard that my holidays mean a lot to me, so I empathise for Milliband, Cameron and Boris having to cut their breaks short because of some dirty thievs who use technolgy to mass terrify.
@Divine Two half-wits? How so?
16 000 troops might be more appropriate, if we can spare them from our various theatres of war. Perhaps we should re-introduce conscription and national service to engage these youths in useful activity and teach them a bit of responsibility and to fight fairly.
Cutting the police numbers looks like a poor judgement and listening to Teresa May trying to justify the cuts on the Today Programme shows a lack of judgement likewise. Why do we always get riots when we have a Tory PM?
@swatantra nandanwar - Great idea to implement National Service again. Giving our youth a purpose, removing them from gangland and teaching discipline would be wonderful for our society.
"This is criminality, pure and simple."
When a burglar robs your home, one can describe it a criminality, pure and simple. But when thousands of young people are involved in a spontaneous mass riot, and looting, covering a great metropolis like London and this spreads to other cities, well, the shear scale of the disturbances makes Cameron's statement sound absurd and ridiculous.
By definition and in essence, what we are seeing in London, are complex social actions, with complex causes, when so many thousands of people are involved. Thousands of young people don't, as if by magic, suddenly decide to become criminals, pure and simple.
@swatantra nandanwar
So we should take the disaffected youth of Britain, give them weapons training and inure them to killing? And this will turn them into peaceable, law-abiding, productive members of society?
I think you are perhaps underestimating Cameron's expertise in the field of rioting. Given his membership of the Bullingdon Club, he knows whereof he speaks.
Yes, essential that young people should be armed and trained how to use weapons. Then it would be a fairer fight against a trigger-happy police force. How many people have the Met killed in the last ten years?
Of course, thanks to the esteemed leaders and various leading lights of the establishment, we can be sure that the cause of the riots have nothing whatsoever to do with a poorly uneducated, jobless, bored, frustrated youth class who feel they have no stake in society. I thought that criminality pure and simple was an effect not a cause but i was wrong. Thanks dave for straightening me out on that one. How should we deal with the situation. Condemn the violence. I was thinking maybe we could nominate the rioters for an award but thanks again for setting me straight there. Phew it's so illuminating to know that violence should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Hoorah for the establishment. Their economic and social policies since 1980 have not caused this and once they have brought the perpetrators to book, there will never be another riot again. Long live dave and all his honourable mp's
It's not 16,000 tonight, but 16,000 in total over the next few days.
David Cameron recalls Parliament for ONE DAY ONLY! This entire matter requires more than one day to debate to see what MP's/Politicians can do surely. Is this situation not that serious that these MP's and Politicians can continue to take it easy and put their feet up after a one day debate ?. This situation requires some serious attention and sorting out and this will take days/weeks at the least.
I suspect that David Cameron will resume his holiday on Thursday night or Friday. That will demonstrate how serious he is taking this entire affair. Dont worry David Cameron just give it all your empty words and get back to your holiday and take it easy as always.
why thursday? why not wednesday?
The police could use water cannons with purple dye! like the French do.
they can then arrest them later and the kids will know either they stay home or come out to play and get busted?
@ANTON JURY...Totally agree!, they`ve all been dragged home kicking and screaming!!, The country was on fire with destruction and riots, and all the british public saw of our so called leaders was holiday snaps of them on holiday!!!, CAMERON, MAY, JOHNSON, CLEGG, OSBORNE!!, now we have BORIS doing his bumbling routine walking down a street with a brush!!, and they finally give the public a TOKEN GESTURE debate in parliament for few hours!, by the weekend they`ll all be away again!!, They should all RESIGN, but they won`t, and you`ll have people defending them!!!, Why?, They`re laughing and pi***ng al over us!!, We`ve got the leaders we deserve!!, No wonder these YOBS and THUGS have no respect for anyone because the politicians are setting a great example!.
this is just like when the army use to charge on Horseback the starving Irish peasants who had been 'done over' by their absent landlords- Hooray for PJ Walls input and Anton, it will take days a nd maybe even weeks you think- what,we could get the left to see iots not the right and the right to see it's not the lefts fault? Is it the parents fault possibly, Maybe we could get them to change in a few weeks-
Or maybe u 2 clowns might actually consider using your vote (that someone died for by the way) in a way that acknowledges the responsibility of voting one way or another. Maybe, when u wake up from your vitriolic hatred filled sleep, and start asking questions of politicians u historically side with, u might get them to up their game, thus applying pressure on the encumbents- did u get that or are u too pissed up/stoned watching your 'new telly'.
Seriuosly, why don;'t u 2 get a book on writing, actually try and structure something- u bring the game down... u bring the country down
My comment has disappeared!
Hi Freeman, dunno-but I bet it's less than antisocial bastards in councli schemes have.
It goes against all my political instincts, but I have to reluctantly agree with Marcus as far as national service is concerned. Not necessarily a spell in the forces, but a spell in public service for a year-no exemptions, no exceptions. It'd be expensive, but the events in London are untenable.
@AWAKE...Calm Down!!,...It`s all about opinions, You obviously have problems with anyone who does`nt agree with you!!, It`s all about PERCEPTION!, the british public perceive that the ruling government and the Mayor have been a tad slow on the uptake!!, with leadership comes responsibility!, obviously you feel they should be allowed to finish their holidays!!!, You are filled with hate and anger, this must be because your party are governing the country, and they`re failing every test put in front of them.
Cameron and Clegg are completely out of their depth.
Another crisis and we are getting from the chuckle brothers, is to me to you.
@matthew
You sir, are bang on.
the police have totally lost control and are complete joke, the yobs can see through this and are taking advantage - the social networks are being used to target areas so that sufficient number of yobs outnumber the police - the joke is on the police.
@swatantra nandanwar - i think that national service is a very good idea.
The reaction of the young people is not in the least surprising and is perfectly 'natural' in a society like ours. In fact they reflect the values of our society to a remarkable degree.
We have a ruling-class determined to return the UK to the 'values' of the eighteenth century, so one shouldn't be that surprised when the 'Mob' returns as well.
good to see 50 to 70 youths self policing enfield tonight protecting small businesses and the enfield community - these guys are setting a good example. hopefully there is many more cases of this happening.
Attached is a video evidencing just how stupid and insipid and putrid black politics is in the UK.
Darcus Howe - note how his argument is that black boys are s and s'd by the beasts, and therefore this is political/ideological! Note also how he invokes the laudably and more obviously political motivations behind the Brixton riots of the 80s to support the criminality taking place. Note that he sentimentalises the whole thing by talking about his family members, and that he uses the word 'negro' to describe himself!
An argument which says a political problem for a certain community exists and that this necessarily means that devilry committed by that same community is of course political is specious and unfounded and crap!
Noting a resemblance between one patently political riot and another evidently moronic one, a resemblance in concrete form I.e. car-burnings and killed coppers, is not the same thing as deducing that therefore they have the same, abstract, ideological and theoretical motivation!
And if the black community wish to move out of slavery and enslavement (and with it the slave-mentality once coerced upon them and latterly subtly imbued in them) then it is up to them to also stop using the language of slavery!
They cannot appropriate the lexicon of racial hatred in the hope of eliminating its disgusting and viscous background of hatred!
This is not a revolution. This is disorder, albeit - in a highly convoluted and distorted way - disorder given voice and meaning by the real suffering and inequity experienced by them.
Disorder doesn't automatically mean anti-status quo - have Trotsky's and Lenin's action during the counter revolution stood the ethical test of time just because they replaced a repulsive order of patronage and privilege with something equally terrifying but different? The Tahliban - freedom fighters? I think not.
Where did the thieves and looters go? They stayed away from the arch-institutions of political power, and went to Foot Locker! The Viscy regime insurgent resistance targeted train lines, political figures, venomous officiados of the Holocaust and vitriolic, hate-filled rounder-uppers of innocent Jews and communists! What does the Black British 'equivalent' do? Target trainers, Nike sports shops and meaningless, petty police officers who never make it home to their families.
Meanwhile, and this my friend is the most sinister part of all, our cultural climate of utter intolerance of healthy and open debate over there being an actual, discernible difference between black Caribbean youths and Africans, Chinese BBCs and Indian Asians, Pakistani Kashmiri bad boys and Bangladeshi first-generation peasants, manages to pour gushes of petrol on the fires of racial hatred in Lancashire, Yorkshire and the Midlands. The beneficent effect this will have on the BNP in the North - TV screens, ironically, help people to make political decisions easier than when one is a Londoner eye-witness - is going to be huge!
Enjoy, and I hope it doesn't make you as angry as it has me!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biJgILxGK0o&feature=topvideos_mp