Keir Starmer sounded uncharacteristically angry as he stood at the Downing Street podium on Sunday and condemned the rioters for causing damage and spreading fear.
Just weeks into her administration, the prime minister was faced with the horrific murder of three young girls, followed by days of violence fuelled by online misinformation that immigrants were responsible.
So far the prime minister has taken a proactive stance in responding to the violent unrest, running it prominently from Downing Street rather than having the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, take a more proactive stance.
In statements on Friday and Sunday, Starmer made clear he wanted to respond to the violence swiftly and decisively – calling in police, adjusting tactics and sending a message to Muslims and others frightened by the violence that it does not represent Britain. He also blamed far-right forces for exploiting the horrific tragedy to spread disinformation and target immigrants.
Starmer is a former director of public prosecutions who was involved in the response to the 2011 riots and is well placed to pragmatically address the crisis in the law and order realm.
He understands the importance of swift justice, both to get criminals off the streets to avoid prolonged violence, and to deter others from joining the riots after watching their fellow far-right rioters make life-ruining choices in less than a week.
After newsletter promotion
There has also been little criticism of Starmer’s tactics from within the Conservative party, with former shadow home secretary David Davis saying: “Let’s remember that the riots started with not one, but three lies… I can’t be too critical of the government or the police on this, to be honest.”
“My point is, they should have shut down that misinformation sooner.”
But Starmer’s bigger challenge lies in the politics of the situation after his initial pragmatic response, and his reaction to Nigel Farage’s Reform party, whose politicians this weekend argued that the riots were caused by discontent and fear about immigration, not the far right.
Labour insiders said some felt that direct criticism of Mr Farage and his allies was counterproductive when the focus should be on policing and policing.
But others in the party worry that Labour’s failure to take on Mr Farage head-on and more comprehensively – with him currently having five MPs and winning four million votes in the election – will allow his anti-immigration allusions to become part of mainstream political rhetoric.
Hostile rhetoric against immigrants has become increasingly mainstream over the past five years, with former Home Secretary Suella Braverman calling immigrants invaders and former Conservative deputy chair turned Reform Party MP Lee Anderson telling asylum seekers to “disappear into France” and claiming without evidence that the Labour Mayor of London is being manipulated by Muslims.
Starmer has said he believes we need to clearly condemn the far-right behind the violence, making it clear that causing fear, damage and chaos will never be tolerated, whatever the underlying motivation. But there may soon be a need to more firmly confront the anti-immigrant rhetoric behind the violence as well, whether from protesters or politicians.
