London Mayor Boris Johnson is "constantly in touch" with his team about rioting in north London, despite being on holiday, his deputy has said.
Kit Malthouse told the BBC modern communications meant Mr Johnson was "all over this issue".
Labour's Lord Prescott said it was "unbelievable" the mayor had not cut short his break.
A second night of looting and disorder in parts of London followed riots in Tottenham on Saturday night.
Violence erupted after a peaceful protest against the fatal shooting of 29-year-old Mark Duggan by police last week and has continued - spreading to Enfield and Walthamstow in north London and Brixton in the south.
'Complete confidence'Mayor Mr Johnson - like many senior politicians - is on his summer break and was not in London when violence broke out at the weekend.
But while Home Secretary Theresa May has returned to London to meet police chiefs, Mr Johnson told the BBC by phone he would not return yet as he had "complete confidence in the police".
Former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott has questioned Mr Johnson's decision - and the holidays of other senior politicians - on the social networking website Twitter.
But Mr Malthouse told the BBC: "Modern communications mean he has been in constant touch about this from his family holiday."
He said the BBC's own move to Manchester had shown location was "unimportant", adding: "He has confidence, I like to think, in his top policing team, hopefully me, certainly in the commissioner to do a good job.
"And frankly, also, I think we are all wary of allowing these criminals to call the shots about what happens in London. The mayor is extremely hard working, he is constantly in touch about this issue, he is all over it."
Mr Johnson's office would not disclose where the mayor was on holiday - saying they "don't discuss mayor's private life and this extends to holiday plans".
Mrs May will meet the Metropolitan Police's Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin and other officers on Monday afternoon.
Mr Duggan's death is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
'Rumours fly'Labour MP Diane Abbot has questioned the police response to the violence - particularly continued looting in Wood Green and Tottenham Hale shopping centres.
"I'm astonished that this was allowed to go on for hours," she said. "The police's argument was that they were tied up in Tottenham, but is the Metropolitan Police telling us they can't be in two places at once?"
She also said the problem arose due to an "information vacuum" around the death of Mr Duggan - and said the family was left waiting for five hours outside Tottenham Police Station without being spoken to by a senior Metropolitan Police officer.
"That was wrong, and it caused all sorts of rumours to fly around and created the conditions for lawless people to move in and riot."
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh said the police were unable to update the family because an independent investigation into the shooting had already begun.
"If we are to maintain confidence with the family and communities more broadly, any time there is a death following police contact.. that needs to remain away from the police and my officers should not and could not have updated," he said.
But he added: "We should have helped the IPCC come closer to the family more quickly."
He also told the BBC officers had had to be sensitive about policing a vigil into a death. He said a few people had started trouble which then escalated "incredibly quickly" - and had not been anticipated - and police resources were then "mobilised".
He said there were three times more officers on duty on Sunday night - and there would be more on Monday, adding criminality would "not be tolerated".
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who has just returned from a holiday in Spain, also told the BBC senior members of the cabinet had been in "constant contact" about various issues while they have been away.
"We have arranged things to make sure this government works effectively on all the issues of the day. We're in constant contact with each other and we're working as effectively this week as we do in every other week of this year."
He described the disorder as "needless opportunistic theft and violence" and said people had lost their businesses, families had lost their homes and others were left feeling frightened in their own neighbourhoods.
0 comments:
Post a Comment