Riots could have been stopped sooner, says Tom Tugendhat

This was the first time Mr Tugendhat had given a speech since he announced he was running to be the next party leader.

While not a campaign launch, choosing instead to respond to the riots allowed the shadow security minister, who is viewed as a moderate, to set out a tough stance on law and order.

In his speech in central London, Mr Tugendhat accused the prime minister of a “failure of leadership” over the “completely unacceptable” disorder.

He argued the unrest “could, and should, have been stopped earlier”, adding that the lessons of the 2011 riots in England “weren’t applied”.

Sir Keir held a meeting with police chiefs two days after the violence first began, and another with senior ministers two days after that.

But Mr Tugendhat criticised him for not chairing a Cobra meeting, a type of meeting at which officials from different parts of government discuss an emergency, until another two days after that, on 5 August.

He added that holding daily Cobra meetings sooner “could have given the police more of what they needed”.

He suggested this should have included calling up all volunteer police to backfill for officers tackling the riots, and using the Army for “backup office duties”.