Tory leadership contender James Cleverly today condemned the Government’s ‘slow’ response to widespread rioting on Britain’s streets.
The shadow home secretary questioned why it had taken nearly a week for Sir Keir Starmer to call an emergency Cobra meeting in response to the violence.
He claimed ministers ‘should and could have been quicker’ in taking action, and demanded they be ‘more agile, more decisive’.
Downing Street is expected to hold an emergency Cobra meeting today after the Prime Minister last night issued a fresh blast at ‘far-right thuggery’.
It came after further violence on Sunday, with arrests made in Rotherham and Middlesbrough, as hotels, houses, cars, a court and university were attacked .
Tom Tugendhat, the former security minister and another Tory leadership candidate, also asked why it had taken ‘so long’ for Labour to call a Cobra meeting.
Meanwhile, the Government is under pressure to recall Parliament, as happened in 2011 during previous riots.
Downing Street yesterday dismissed claims Sir Keir was planning to go on holiday this week.
The PM is expected to be working in No10 over the coming days as he navigates the first real test of his premiership in the wake of the Southport stabbing attack.
Speaking to Sky News this morning after a fresh night of chaos, Mr Cleverly said: ‘These are the actions of people who are clearly responding to disinformation online, but are obviously motivated by racism.
‘We’ve seen people with swastika tattoos and giving the Nazi salute, attacking people that have had no link at all with the terrible instance that we saw in Southport last week.
‘And it is absolutely right that the Government is saying that they will take firm action – they should and could have been quicker.
‘I think it’s worrying that it’s only today that Cobra is going to meet. It was only yesterday afternoon that we found out the Prime Minister was going to cancel his holiday.’
He added: ‘We’ve seen nearly a week of disorder now and Cobra is only going to meet later on today.
‘There are key decisions that need to be made very early in the process, had I still been home secretary I would have called a Cobra meeting much earlier than this.’
Mr Cleverly described the rioters as a ‘group of extreme people’ who are ‘not reflective of the country’.
In another interview with Times Radio, the former Cabinet minister said the Government needed to be ‘much more proactive’.
‘When the Government gets things right, I will support them, because this issue is absolutely key,’ he said. ‘But I’m also concerned that they have been slow.
‘When you’re in opposition, you get into a habit of thinking what you’re going to say.
‘When you’re in government, you have to decide what you’re going to do.
He added: ‘I want the Government to make sure people are safe, but they need to act more decisively, more quickly.
‘They need to give the police certainty over funding, over mutual aid details, over overtime details, to make sure we’ve got enough police officers on the streets.
‘They need to be much more proactive.’
Posting on X/Twitter on Saturday night, Mr Tugendhat wrote: ‘Day 6. Why hasn’t a COBR been called? Still no plan from Government on ending the violence on our streets.
‘Extremism and lawlessness cannot be tolerated. This has to stop. What is taking Labour so long?’