James Kirkup

Cameron has blamed 'sick' pockets of society (Photo: Reuters)

These days, most politicians are wary of the language of morality. You can debate the causes of their caution ad infinitum: from the scarring experience of Back to Basics to the wider cultural trend towards moral relativism, explanations are legion.

The consequence has been a public debate that tends to shy away from talking of people and actions as “good” or “bad”. Instead of a moral failure, crime and disorder are often discussed as failure of management, bureaucracy or public policy.

Arguably, this caution partly explains why a lot of people who consider themselves decent, law-abiding and hard-working feel that the political system has failed. Certainly, it’s a common feature of many of the comments left on our blogs here and those elsewhere.

This squeamishness over… Read More

Boris Johnson is having a difficult time of it

Will Heaven yesterday pointed out that one of the important political aspects of this week’s riots is its impact on the ongoing Dave vs Boris struggle. The Conservative Party’s two alpha-males (or should that be alpha double-plus?) are hardly bosom buddies, despite sharing so much history.

Few tears have been shed in No 10 over the Mayor’s travails this week. Whereas David Cameron got to do the whole statesman thing on the steps of No 10 yesterday morning, Boris was heckled at Clapham Junction as he attempted to join the clean-up operation. (A note for non-Londoners: Clapham Junction may have seen rioting, but the people who live there and got involved in the clean-up are, by and large, wealthy middle-cla… Read More

David Cameron speaks at No 10 earlier today (Photo: Reuters)

Stern. Resolute. Angry.

That was the message David Cameron wanted to project on the doorstep of No 10 this morning. And as far as it went, he did OK, though his departure from the podium looked a bit scuttling and hurried.

He also ticked several of Ben Brogan’s boxes, speaking for the law-abiding and the victims, and avoiding any hint of hoodie-hugging sympathy for the rioting devils.

Perhaps understandably, the statement was light on concrete action. The number of officers on the streets of London will rise from 6,000 last night to 16,000. All Met leave is cancelled and other forces will continue to offer mutual assistance. And Parliament will be recalled on Thursday: Mr Cameron will make… Read More

Boris is returning to London from Canada (Photo: Getty)

Boris is coming home. Around 48 hours after riots first began in the city he runs, the London Mayor is ending his summer holiday and flying back from Canada. He’ll be back in City Hall tomorrow lunchtime, apparently.

No doubt he’s travelling as fast as he can. But is he too late? On this timetable, we’ll be into a third daily news cycle dominated by riots before His Blondness is back on the scene. That’s almost 72 hours in which one of the world’s greatest cities has seen the localised breakdown of law and order: by now, many voters will have drawn very clear impressions of the riots and of the people responsible for upholding the law in their city.

Mr… Read More

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… Read More

Rupert Murdoch leaves his London residence this morning (Photo: PA)

Having landed in London last night after a trip to Nigeria, David Cameron hasn’t had the ideal preparation for what could well be the most important Commons statement of his premiership so far.

Mr Cameron’s personal troubles here are not insignificant. New links between No 10 and the scandal seem to be alleged every day. There are even whispers of tensions at the very top. Some say Mr Cameron’s allies are grumpy that George Osborne isn’t owning up to his role in appointing Andy Coulson; loyalists loyally deny any such thing.

So what does the PM need to do today? What will it take to reassure Tory MPs that, actually, he’s still in control and they can go off to their… Read More

I write this with shaving foam still spattered on my face and shirt. When Rupert Murdoch was struck with a paper plate covered in foam, I was perhaps ten feet away, on the press bench in the Wilson Room of Portcullis House.

Anyone who lives and works in the Westminster bubble is taking a risk when they claim to know what public opinion is, and where it’s moving. SW1A is always a bit detached from the real world, and all the more so when its denizens are excited about one big story.

Here in the village, conventional wisdom has it that David Cameron has had a bad crisis, and Ed Miliband a good one. But there’s something missing here: the polls aren’t really moving. Daily trackers suggest that Labour has retained a lead over the Tories of between 4 and 8 points: solid, but not stunning. And not changing much. (This ICM poll for the Guardian is a good example here)

So what’s going on? Well, one explanation is that us London media-politico types are (once again) disappearing up our own fundaments, obssessing over something… Read More

John Yates has announced his resignation (Photo: Getty)

Another day, another resignation. Events that would once have been seismic have become almost routine. Until we hear more from John Yates himself, I’m reluctant to say much more. Perhaps it’s better to take a step back and count the cost. The butcher’s bill so far: 2 senior policemen; 3 News International executives; 1 national newspaper.

Notably absent from that list so far is anyone from Her Majesty’s Government.

So perhaps it was inevitable that, when Boris Johnson called a press conference to discuss the Yates departure, someone (Michael Crick of Newsnight) asked the Mayor of London whether he believed that David Cameron himself should resign.

Mr Johnson replied:
I’m not here to discuss government appointments. Those questions you must address to government.

I don’t think there’s a… Read More

Give me lucky generals, Napoleon used to say. At least in terms of his travel plans, David Cameron must be feeling like an unlucky prime minister.

Not for the first time, Mr Cameron is in the wrong place today, giving us the spectacle of a British prime minister at a press conference with a foreign leader answering questions about wholly domestic matters. Today it was Pretoria and questions about Sir Paul Stephenson. Two weeks ago, it was Kabul and questions about Milly Dowler.

Mr Cameron’s discomfort about this is visible. Haunted by his decision in 2007 to visit Rwanda instead of his own flooded constituency, the PM is also all too aware that Ed Miliband is using all the agility of an Opposition leader to set the pace. Hence the sudden shortening of the PM’s Africa trip and the move to extend the Commons session until… Read More