Theresa May’s stop-and-search battle and the feverish Tory party

As predicted, Labour did make use of the Times’s story about Theresa May’s row with the Prime Minister over stop-and-search at PMQs today, using a backbench question from Steve Reed, who explicitly linked to Cameron’s ‘fear of Nigel Farage’. David Cameron gave a rather mollifying answer, telling the Commons that ‘stop-and-search does need reform’ and that ‘what’s really important is that stop-and-search is used properly but we don’t add to the burdens of the police’.

It's interesting, this fear of Ukip business, mainly because Theresa May had seen her review of stop-and-search as a key modernising moment for the Conservatives, and she initially enjoyed positive headlines about her party's appeal to the ethnic minority groups who feel victimised by the way the police use the power currently.