Police must step in and make arrests during protests instead of waiting to review footage of criminal behaviour afterwards, Tom Tugendhat has said.
The former security minister claimed that a “softly, softly” approach to enforcement, often taken for political reasons, was undermining public confidence.
He revealed that while serving in the Home Office he had to “encourage” reluctant police chiefs to start actively making arrests at pro-Palestine protests.
Mr Tugendhat, who is running for the Tory leadership, also accused Sir Keir Starmer of a “failure of leadership” over his response to the recent riots.
He said that the unrest “could and should have been stopped earlier” had the Prime Minister taken a more robust approach to law and order.
Delivering a speech in central London, he revealed his frustration at the approach taken by Scotland Yard to the policing of the pro-Palestine rallies.
“I constantly had to encourage the police to make arrests as crimes were being committed, rather than waiting until after a protest had finished,” he said.
“Once people cross the line they need to be met with immediate and uncompromising force.”
The Met was criticised by Tory politicians over its handling of the demonstrations, some of which turned violent and includedanti-Semitic chanting.
In one instance officers were accused of standing by as “from the river to the sea” was projected on to Parliament’s Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben.
The phrase, often shouted at protests, is seen as anti-Semitic by many because it implies the eradication of Israel to create a new Palestinian state.
Asked why he thought the Met had taken such a stance, Mr Tugendhat blamed “senior officers who did not take the decision to carry out arrests on the day”.
He said their approach was the result of politics intervening in the policing of protests, including “the politics of having community leaders”.
“The approach to public order policing has been inconsistent and, too often, too weak,” he said.
“There was inaction in the face of blatant criminality during the anti-Israel protests. This is not, as the police oath requires, policing ‘without fear or favour’.
“Once lost, public order can be difficult to regain and social unrest can rear its head, which is why the police response to disorder must always be swift and determined.
“We sometimes hear of the need to go softly, softly, and to make arrests later. But visible lawlessness encourages others to join in and commit crime.”
Earlier this year Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Commissioner, defended his force’s policing of the pro-Gaza protests following criticism from Rishi Sunak.
He said: “To suggest that we are not – where the law permits, as the law allows – policing robustly, is inaccurate.
“At each of the major protests where the majority have been peaceful, we’ve seen wrongdoing and we’ve acted.”
Mr Tugendhat also criticised the handling of unrest in Birmingham last week, when a group of young Muslim men gathered to protect a mosque from the far-Right.
West Midlands Police were criticised for their low-key response, even though a journalist faced intimidation and at least one man appeared to be carrying a weapon.
Supt Emlyn Richards later said he had met “community leaders” beforehand to “understand the style of policing we needed to deliver”.
‘Two-tiered’ policing
His remarks fuelled claims that the force was guilty of a “two-tier” approach to policing the unrest, an accusation which Supt Richards later denied.
Mr Tugendhat said the riots had been fuelled by “years of militant identity politics, much of it imported” which he said had led to “the politicisation of race by extremists and thugs”.
“We have seen equality of opportunity give way to critical race theory, while the root causes of inequalities go ignored,” he said.
“Activist groups warp the language of inclusion to get what they want. Universities indulge in ideologies of grievance instead of transmitting knowledge.
“Schools, museums and galleries apologise for our country’s history instead of objectively explaining it – and, yes, celebrating it.”
He claimed that while “the right response to this cannot be more of the same”, that was what Labour was planning with an official definition of Islamophobia.
“We can already see that activists on the Left are trying to use the riots to silence those with mainstream concerns about immigration,” he added.
Mr Tugendhat also insisted he would not allow Nigel Farage into the Tory Party if he became leader, or consider a pact with Reform UK to unite the Right.
