Clegg Denies Rift With Police

Nick Clegg

First Posted: 13/08/11 15:12 BST Updated: 13/10/11 11:12 BST   PA

PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has denied rumours of a rift between the Government and police over handling of the riots in England.

Mr Clegg was visiting Manchester, where more than 100 premises in the city and nearby Salford were damaged and looted during disturbances on Tuesday night.

The Deputy Prime Minister visited Olive Delicatessen in Whitworth Street, a family-run cafe and deli.

He said: "There is no rift between the police and the Government, we fully support the police 100%.

"They have done a brilliant job in really difficult circumstances.

"The police themselves have said they want to review what happened and look at tactics and learn lessons."

Prime Minister David Cameron played down tensions after senior officers hit back at criticism of their response to the crisis.

Mr Clegg added: "These were very fast events, they were unpredictable and they were unpredicted.

"But nobody is sitting there as an armchair general trying to second-guess tactical decisions which the police have to take in very difficult circumstances."

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PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has denied rumours of a rift between the Government and police over handling of the riots in England. Mr Clegg was visiting Manchester, where m...
PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has denied rumours of a rift between the Government and police over handling of the riots in England. Mr Clegg was visiting Manchester, where m...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Blockem1
When will our politicians start putting policies
07:40 PM on 08/14/2011
Clegg is without political backbone or vision.We have many problems in this country yet are still happy to spend billions on Afghanistan and Iraq,aircraft carriers,not to mention the £7 billion costs of the Olympics.They also allow corporations and rich individuals to get away with not paying tax. Can you believe it ! they blame it on Blackberry and bring over an American police man ......Give me strength ! i suppose its nieve of us to assume that his millionaires cabinet in might for once manage this country properly by investing solutions to create the opportunities and environment not to mention putting back the trust and respect for the police.Hear we are throwing the looters in prison for nicking a couple bottles of wine or a pair of trainers yet the privileged fiddling politicians whose expenses were for far greater sums were just asked to pay it back.These same politicians were then caught out again with the NOTW scandal only to find out that the Police were being bunged, the looters were wrong and deserve appropriate and measured punishment , but for Clegg and co to sort this mess out they need to start at the top ,because this problem is direct result of the failures of all politicians to address the social divide and the weakness of our education system which is still churning out uneducated , unemployable and disaffected youth building up a massive social cost to society.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Miserable Swine
09:49 PM on 08/13/2011
Clegg and Cameron are going to need the police more than ever once the cuts start to chew through the arteries of this society. I think what`s going to kick off may well make the dark days of the Miners` Strike (thanks for that, Thatcher), look like a walk in the park. No excuse at all for what happened to a lot of innocent people, but these cuts are going to make things worse.

If we`re all in this together then this has to be demonstrated. Two immediate ways:

1. Start taxing the banks more and make them chip in. A special `bankers` tax` could be brought in for the City above the 50% rate; if they don`t like it, let them go off to Zug (their jobs cannot be that hard), although I do admit that maths that the quants do is of a level I couldn`t get my head around; shame they`re not doing research for the improvement of humanity.

2. Get the tax that Vodafone still owes.

Maybe then the `government` may have a bit more moral authority than they do now. Bullingdon boys Cameron and Osborne have no idea what they`re doing. If I ever vote again (unlikely) it will be for neither Conservative nor Liberal (and of course, not the BNP or EDL if they ever manage to evolve past the knuckle-dragging stage).
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
floodberg
Attorney (ret.)
01:50 AM on 08/14/2011
MS, can I add a few points?

3.  Fire Phil Green as Cameron's advisor, and audit everything about Topshop; that transfer to his wife to claim Monaco was too much for me.

4.  Demand that £400Mn in abandoned bank funds (that Cammie is going to give to the new Big Society Bank) be used for essential services like police and fire, and the remainder used to buy nursing homes to be run by the government alone.  Let the bank launch with the £200Mn that was supposedly donated by big banks.

5.  Restart the Bonfire of the Quangos, don't let the private sector profit off government duties.

6.  Stop building 'private prisons,' that's the government's duty, not a chance to make someone rich.

7.  Stop MP expenses for standard food and drink, cut the second housing expense in half, no allowance for furnishing home, and no switching primary residences.

8.  Make Ipsa disclose names of all MPs who have filed questionable expenses before they investigate further. 

10.  No benefits/housing etc. for migrants who have not paid into the system for at least two years.  Deport all illegal migrants, and allow them to reapply from their home country; illegal reentry produces ban for life.

11.  Referendum on EU now; before they go for the Coast Guard.
03:39 PM on 08/13/2011
The way this thing is going its going to be the police who are rioting.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Tim Haselden
An Enemy of Rupert Murdoch, since 1984.
03:37 PM on 08/13/2011
To be honest , I couldn't give a toss what this lying, brown nosing git says.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Miserable Swine
09:52 PM on 08/13/2011
Clegg is a joke: it`s as if his only function in government has been to play the dormitory flunkey polishing the shoes of Cameron, and copping a load of flak from a disillusioned electorate. He must be regretting becoming Cameron`s kid.