London riots: David Lammy and the 'murder' of Mark Duggan

David Lammy slips up

David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham, has been winning plaudits for his response to riots in his area. A lifelong resident, Mr Lammy has spoken for the vast majority of people there who abhor violence and crime.

Notably, he has stayed away from those who suggest that the death of Mark Duggan in area last week is somehow a justification for rioting.

Mr Duggan was shot dead by police officers last week. Inevitably, there are accusations against the police; the facts remain unclear. Mr Lammy has not pandered to the accusers, saying only that there must be "a transparent and thorough investigation" into the death of Mr Duggan, and described the rioters as "criminals" who have "hijacked" a family's grief.

(See his full Mirror article here.)

Neatly putting this in context, Oliver Wright in the Independent compares Mr Lammy's response to that of his predecessor, Bernie Grant, in 1985.

Yet Mr Lammy now appears to have slipped.

In a BBC interview outside a burned-out building in Tottenham this morning, he said this:

"I think for most people coming to the High Road this morning this is a very disturbing sight. This is a building that survived the war and is now indicative of a community that is deeply, deeply scarred as a consequence – one, of a murder – well I say murder but a man who lost his life last week – but two as a consequence of terrible, terrible unrest on the street over the weekend.”

My emphasis, to highlight Mr Lammy's apparent suggestion that Mr Duggan's death at the hands of the police was "murder".

In fairness, we should note that the MP immediately checked himself and amended his description. But with emotions running high, his friends will be hoping that what appears to have been a brief and inadvertent slip of the tongue does not have wider ramifications.