Wow, that was a howitzer of a performance from Boris Johnson on the Today Progamme earlier. And all his shells were aimed at Downing St. Not only did the Mayor of London
slander Cameron’s Broken Society thesis, not only did he support Diane Abbott against the jibes of Tory HQ, but he also committed the gravest act of all, given the current climate. He lined
up with Labour in attacking the coalition’s police cuts. “This is not a time to think about making substantial cuts in police numbers,” said BoJo. “I think it would be a good thing
if the government had another look,” he added, for emphasis.
There’s little doubt that Boris has hit upon a potent attack here. Even if the public understands the overall case for deficit reduction, there is something particularly emotive about the idea of police officers departing the streets — doubly so now that riots are tearing through the country. And it won’t do Downing St much good to point out that it’s the police forces themselves who decide where the cuts fall, nor that Labour couldn’t promise to maintain the number of officers on the beat. They’ve been making both points for months, and still the Sun declared recently that “Labour is now tougher on crime”, simply because Ed Miliband had a typically vague policy to, erm, cut less.
So what’s David Cameron to do? One option is to reverse the cuts to police funding, but that would be a political and fiscal capitulation of a particularly dangerous sort. So the more likely option is that the government toughens up its overall package on crime, cutting away any softer edges. Which is to say, Ken Clarke’s job prospects look less healthy after today.
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