It was almost a certainty that after freely encouraging riots in other countries ie North Africa and the Middle East, and telling the these nations’ leaders what they must do, that riots would then occur in the government’s own backyard. Admittedly the movements in these other countries seemed to be politically motivated but our government was ill-advised to be seen to be openly encouraging civil disorder no matter what the pretext. The subliminal message being beamed into people’s homes day after day was that rioters were good and rioting was good and should be supported. I am totally amazed that Colonel Gaddafi didn’t find a way of giving Mr Cameron public advice through the media about what he must do to bring order back, or even tell him that he must hand over control of the country to the rioters. The temptation must have been great in many of the countries that have been on the receiving end of Mr Cameron’s lectures.
One of the biggest unanswered questions about the recent riots, was the whereabouts of justice secretary Ken Clarke. Where was he? No speeches! No photo ops! No pearls of wisdom! He became the invisible man! The arena of British politics was deafened by his silence! Even more mystifying was why the British media allowed him to simply disappear without question. This was the politician openly reneging on his party’s opposition pledge to get tough on crime. This was the man telling us that prison should not be an option for most criminals. This was a great opportunity for the media to do their job and put Ken Clarke on the spot. Typically they failed abysmally. Mr Clarke was allowed to be the invisible man until it was all over and the dust had settled somewhat.
Why did Ken Clarke hide?
Quite likely because his political stance had become untenable. The public were furious about the scenes of violence, disorder, arson and looting taking place in their country and they wanted the rioters to be stopped and punished. In some places citizens were banding together to form vigilante groups because they had no faith in the authorities’ ability to deal with the problems, so they decided to physically defend their own communities. The press were showing daily images of rioters literally doing just as they pleased. The public backlash was the kind of thing that could topple governments. Ken Clarke pontificating on why criminals should not be sent to prison, could have seen the end of the Coalition Government. Clarke had to be kept out of sight and away from the media. This was no accident. This was damage limitation time.
How politicians react to riots
Usually during riot situations they will talk tough, make totally unenforceable statements about how all rioters will be brought before the courts – feel the full weight of the law etc. This is especially true especially of the the parties in power, because the riots are a challenge to their government. They feel the need to be seen to make the right noises. In the past in this country it has been commonplace to appoint a geriatric member of the aristocracy ( paying said person a small fortune) to undertake a lengthy public enquiry into the ’causes ‘ of the riots. When this happens it is usually guaranteed that everyone and everything will be blamed except the rioters. The result will give politicians the chance to say that they listened to the people, looked at the evidence and took actions to prevent such riots in future. Actions might be more funds for ‘disadvantaged’ areas, softer touch policing of those areas, youth initiatives or even changes to the law. In these cases the rioters often feel even more empowered and important in that their behaviour made the government change something. For once however that does not seem to be the case as the government as yet show no signs of setting up such an enquiry. If they do then no doubt the usual process will follow.
The usual retreat
During the riots ministers will make very tough statements. Once the riots are over and calm has returned then they will begin to backtrack and return to the usual middle-class ‘liberal’ arguments about crime and punishment. (Sending people to prison is expensive.) You will notice Ken Ckarke has finally come out of hiding and is trying to put a spin on the riots to justify his ‘soft sentencing’ stance. He is claiming that a a high percentage of rioters over 18 years of age that were convicted, were repeat offenders ie have been in prison but are stil offending, therefore prison doesn’t work. The truth of the matter is that huge numbers of the rioters were under 18 ( many of them under 15) and have not been to prison at all. Additionally the vast majority of the rioters have not actually been caught, therefore he has no factual information on them, other than what everyone saw on their tv screens. He is also conveniently ignoring the fact that the riots petered out after the courts started imprisoning and remanding in custody anyone found having any connection with the riots even for receiving small amounts of stolen. This and government statements about authorising the use of plastic bullets plus increased police numbers brought the riots to an end. Threats about doing community service would have just caused raucous laughter. Clarke has become the unspeakable advocating the indefensible and he has betrayed his own history. Deterrents ended the riots, not soft sentencing, but like all politicians he has to put his spin on events and the media seem to be allowing him to get away with it. Nothing really changes in our wonderful liberal democracy, does it?
