Tottenham Riots: The Shameful Comments of a Labour MP
Iain Dale was disgusted by comments made on the situation in Tottenham by an obscure Labour MP. The riots were acts of criminality, nothing to do with politics.
7 Aug 2011, 00:32
Riots: No excuses
Yep, the Tories are back alright. Why is it the Tories never take responsibility for the consequences of their party’s disastrous policies. #tottenhamThis came minutes after he retweeted this comment from someone he follows...
Riots. Protests. Cuts. Unemployment. Disaffected Youth. Strikes. Recession.Police Brutality.Is that really the best he can do? Does he really think that it is the Conservatives who caused these riots? Because his colleague David Lammy, the local MP, thinks rather differently. Tonight he has made a statement on his website...
"The scenes currently taking place in our community are not representative of the vast majority of people in Tottenham. Those who remember the destructive conflicts of the past will be determined not to go back to them. We already have one grieving family in our community and further violence will not heal that pain. True justice can only follow a thorough investigation of the facts. The Tottenham community and Mark Duggan's family and friends need to understand what happened on Thursday evening when Mark lost his life. To understand those facts, we must have calm."I don't know the circumstances of the shooting. But what I do know is that politics weren't involved. It was a police operation in which Mr Duggan was shot and killed. Chris Williamson should take a good look in the mirror tonight. I doubt whether he will like what he sees.
A second aspect of tonight's events was the insatiable appetite of the media for immediate reaction and comment. Here's a tweet from Guardian journalist Dave Hill, who blogs about London.
@bbc5live still unsuccessfully seeking comment from Boris & from local MP @DavidLammy. Same here. Beeb also chasing Livingstone #tottenham
YeGods, do these people not think the local MP, the Mayor of London and maybe even poor old Ken might want to gather their thoughts before saying anything? Politicians have a responsibility in these situations to say nothing until facts are known.
People have every right to protest against anything they want to, but they must do it lawfully. This protest turned into an unlawful riot. Full of violence. Full of looting. There can be no excuse for that, and no explanation.
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Iain Dale
Iain Dale is publisher of Total Politics, MD of Biteback Publishing & presenter of LBC's evening show.
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Comments (7)
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When Mr Williamson looks at a mirror he sees nothing. He is a vampire sucking the life out of living things.
07/08/2011 01:01And... he's deleted his tweets. He's shown his true colours.
07/08/2011 01:16http://opentothefuture.com
He is totally right...look what happened the last time you lot were in power. He did miss one important point. Do you really think with the grilling the Met has had over phone hacking it is bothered about patrolling our streets? On top of Tory cuts, not a chance. This is just the beginning.
07/08/2011 09:46Its about time LONDON and its immaturity, greed and petty arguing started taking responsibility for the country as a whole, we are slowly shrinking from a commonwealth to a joke!
I am still waiting for Mr Lammy to unreservedly condemn this looting - his limp statement is a vague ramble that provides no support for law abiding people.
Ignoring the looting is just as bad as blaming the Tories.
07/08/2011 13:24Well done Mr Lammy - condemnation of this looting at last!
07/08/2011 17:06Haringey may be a deprived area and has faced some fairly sizeable cuts to services but one thing that survived the axe was the absurdly generous allowance scheme for Haringey councillors - the total bill is over 1 million pounds a year for 57 councillors. You'd have thought if the council was that hard up then the members (many of whom work full time as well as being councillors, given that the majority of council meetings are in the evening) could have taken something of a reduction.
The reason this is relevant is because it is a Labour council was a huge majority. Not one Tory on there. So who is it again who is protecting themselves and passing the cuts onto the most vulnerable?
08/08/2011 15:59Typical scummy Labour.
But as I have read elsewhere -- 'unemployment'??
08/08/2011 18:09London is full of Poles and eastern europe immigrants taking jobs. There have been plenty jobs, its just that the rioters and looters will not get up at 7 in the morning to go to work.