Has London’s top copper met his match? Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley got more than he bargained for when he attended parliament this morning for a session of the Home Affairs Committee.
Taking to the hot seat to be quizzed on policing priorities, Rowley came in for a grilling by the notoriously straight-talking Tory deputy party chairman Lee Anderson. Half way through what Mr Steerpike could only describe as a gruelling committee session, Anderson asked the police chief if it was time he ‘got out of his ivory tower’ to ‘sort out’ the Just Stop Oil protestors that have been causing disruption in Westminster.
Getting defensive, Rowley retorted: ‘You might want to believe that the law says that no disruption is allowed, whatsoever, through protest, but that is not the case.’
Taking the tension up a notch, Anderson fired back: ‘You might want to believe, commissioner, that you’re doing your job correctly.
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