The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

David Cameron and co have picked the wrong fight

The police have support. Cameron and Boris Johnson don't.

By Jon Bernstein Published 13 August 2011 10:38

Thursday's Commons debate on the riots on England's streets was notable for the collective avoidance of any attempt to answer the "why" question. The left/right, austerity/broken Britain arguments that had played out in the papers and on our television screens since the weekend were deemed politically toxic by the time Parliament was recalled.

Instead, attention turned to the police and an apparent failure of leadership. The Prime Minister led the baton charge accusing police chiefs of using the wrong tactics and implying that the police accepted this analysis. David Cameron wasn't alone. Backbencher after backbencher, recalling events of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights, demanded plaintively "Where were the police?"

Yet three opinion polls suggest that the public don't share the politician's discontent with the boys in blue, rather it is the politicians themselves that have come up short.

First a YouGov poll published on Wednesday asked how "well or badly" Cameron, London mayor Boris Johnson and the police had dealt with the "recent riots in London and other cities". Only the police received a positive net rating. If that support can dismissed as simply empathy for the "bobbies on the beat" in the same way that there is overwhelming public support for "our boys" even during unpopular military misadventures, consider an ICM poll for the Guardian.

ICM poll

While Cameron and Johnson again were given negative net ratings (-14 and -10 respectively), acting commissioner of the Metropolitan police Tim Godwin received a +18 rating. If the public share Cameron's view that the police chiefs handled last week's events badly you would expect a negative rating for the nation's most senior policeman.

ICM poll

Finally, a ComRes poll in this morning's Independent underscores these sentiments. Asked whether they thought "David Cameron had failed to provide the necessary leadership to take control of the rioting in London early enough", 54 per cent of respondents agreed. And asked whether "cuts to police numbers nationally must be reversed by the Government in the light of this week's rioting", 71 per cent agreed.

Hugh Orde's withering attack on an impotent Home Secretary on Thursday night were only tempered slightly by his gushing words for Theresa May on Friday. It's clear that the police are furious that they are taking the blame. For now, public sympathy is with them.

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Tags: London Riots

More from Jon Bernstein

8 comments

Sat, 2011-08-13 10:54 — swatantra nandanwar

The Police have our support because they're the ones putting their lives on the frontline.
I did point out the conspicuous absence of Dianne Abbott and David Lammy on the frontline, Day 1, or the Home Secretary and Justice Secretary, for that matter.
Too often politicians fall into the trap that they could do the job better than the professionals, and that happens everywhere in the Civil Service and Local Govt. They can't.
But the Police had to wait 4 days before they could work out an effetive strategy to deal with the riots, and by that time the momentum of the riots was decreasing anyway.
So Harriet is wrong and Orde is wrong in saying it was 'police numbers' etc etc etc that did it. Of course visable presence makes a difference, any fool knows that, but the momentum was fizzling out anyway.
Our rioters simply haven't the stamina to sustain long term rioting like they do on the Continent. The riots would not have gone beyond Day 9.

Sat, 2011-08-13 10:57 — Richard Albright1

It's apears the counrty is stampeding to the right on many social issues, but our useless and worthless politicians are still stuck in the middle.

Sat, 2011-08-13 11:43 — mcquade

Yes Swantara, you did erroneously point that out, but obviously weren't following the news or Twitter. Lammy was all over it. And same goes for Abbott when it broke out in Hackney on Monday.

Sat, 2011-08-13 12:25 — StevConnor

One question that nobody seems to be asking. With the amount of money that was stolen and the inevitable event that many of the rioters and looters won't be caught in combination with Cameron effectively upping the anti, will there no be more guns on the streets?