Paul Geater: Government deserves credit for riot response

And to be honest new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his team of ministers appear to have done very well to regain the initiative from the thugs.

That has, of course, been aided by thousands of decent citizens of some of the most combustible hotspots coming out on to the streets to make it clear the kind of hate being whipped up by the rioters is not welcome in this country.

The shock of seeing your home town splashed across the media as one of the rioting hotspots was brilliantly summed up by my colleague Reece Hanson in his column last week.

I cannot claim great knowledge of any of the areas badly affected by riots - although Liverpool is one of my favourite cities and we've had several enjoyable breaks there.

But one area I've come to know quite well over recent years is Walthamstow in north east London. We have family living there and we visit them fairly regularly.

It might be part of London, but it has its own character and a strong feeling of community - so I wasn't surprised to see thousands of local residents pour out on to the streets to challenge a proposed march by far-right protesters last week.

I know there was one isolated incident when a councillor from outside the area was filmed making some allegedly inflammatory comments - but he was quickly suspended by the Labour Party, arrested and is currently in custody awaiting trial.

Sir Keir Starmer has worked with the police to ensure a crackdown on those involved in riots. (Image: Toby Melville/PA Wire)

The reaction of the government and the courts has been first class - troublemakers have been dealt with very quickly.

And while most have been involved with the far-right thugs attacking the police, mosques, and hotels housing asylum seekers, some counter-demonstrators who went too far and retaliated too strongly have also been taken off the streets.

Overall, this shows that Elon Musk's claims of "Two Tier Keir" are absolute hogwash - he really should confine himself to the cesspit of right-wing US politics!

It was also right for the Prime Minister to reject calls for a recall of Parliament. What good would that have done?

It would simply have given Nigel Farage, the expert user of the shrillest dog-whistle in British politics, the chance to spray petrol on the flames while hiding behind Parliamentary Privilege.

His comments questioning the police accounts of the killings in Southport that sparked the first riots helped to give totally false rumours credibility in the minds of some misguided far-right sympathisers.

And before anyone accuses me of left-wing bias in saying that,  it is precisely the point that was being made this week by former cabinet minister Mel Stride - and he's standing for the leadership of the Conservative Party.

What has been absolutely clear over the last couple of weeks is that social media and extreme comments can help to stir up and ferment some of the dispossessed and encourage them to take extreme action.

That is why the apparently-respectable childminding wife of a Tory councillor in Northamptonshire is currently in custody awaiting a court hearing after allegedly putting up a post calling for a hotel containing asylum seekers to be burned down.

Some may see that as free speech. Others may consider it to be something altogether more sinister - especially at a time of rising tensions.

The fact is the actions by this government and by the reasonable people of Walthamstow, Brighton, Bristol, Liverpool, Southport and many other towns and cities across the country have helped bring the UK back from the brink as riots threatened to scar the land.

The opinions expressed in this column are the personal views of Paul Geater and do not necessarily reflect views held by this newspaper, its sister publications or its owner and publisher Newsquest Media Group Ltd.