‘Cautiously hopeful’ UK riots may calm down, says policing minister

We caught up with the Policing Minister Diana Johnson and started by asking her if she thought last night may have been a turning point and things may now calm down.

Diana Johnson: I am cautiously hopeful. The home secretary, myself, the prime minister, we’re all being kept up to date with intelligence and about what’s expected over the next few days, but that’s a matter for the police then to risk assess each piece of intelligence that they get.

Paul McNamara: The online safety bill still doesn’t come into force for a good long while to come. Ofcom yesterday wrote to social media companies saying ‘Look, there’s no reason why you can’t start enacting now what we hope you will in a few months’. But isn’t the truth, they just don’t have to and actually they’re not acting soon enough?

Diana Johnson: Two things. One is if criminal offences are being committed on these social media posts now, calling people to violence, calling people to incite racial hatred, those are criminal offences and they need to be dealt with by the social media companies. They need to be removed now.

Paul McNamara: But are they? Are the social media companies dealing with it?

Diana Johnson: There is some movement on that, but of course I want to see more. This is coming down the track at them. Get ahead of it. Deal with it now. I think that the public would expect that of responsible social media companies.

Paul McNamara: And all while you’re saying this, we’ve got the owner of one of those social media companies taunting the prime minister. X aren’t taking this seriously, are they?

Diana Johnson: I’m not getting into what Elon Musk has said or not said. That’s irrelevant. The whole of government recognises that there are issues that we will need to address in the coming weeks and months around how we engage with those social media companies.

Paul McNamara: What about some prominent people on those platforms? In the old days, we had Nigel Farage tweeting. He later blamed the police for not clarifying the situation sooner. What do you think of an MP, a member of parliament, saying such things, writing such things on social media, and the effect it has on what’s happened over the last two weeks?

Diana Johnson: All MPs have a responsibility to be measured and calm.

Paul McNamara: Do you think Nigel Farage is being measured and calm?

Diana Johnson: I don’t think he’s being measured and calm. And I think that you’re in a leadership position as a member of parliament. The country has gone through a very difficult few days. We need to be very careful that we are not spreading or amplifying misinformation and disinformation, which clearly in that case was actually the case.

Paul McNamara: Are you looking at banning rioters from football matches?

Diana Johnson: Options are being considered. It seems to me that football clubs and rugby clubs probably do not want to have people who cause criminal violence on the streets of the communities where those clubs are based on those sounds.

Paul McNamara: That sounds like a yes.

Diana Johnson: That’s certainly a matter for football clubs and rugby clubs if they want to take that action. But just from my perspective, it’s something that should be looked at, yes.