Keir Starmer Is Restoring Order. Now He Needs to Rebuild Trust
The government can head off a summer of discontent. But it needs a strong criminal justice system and a functional immigration policy to prevent a repeat.
Law and disorder.
Photographer: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images EuropeScenes of violent unrest across the UK over the past week have rightly been condemned by the overwhelming majority of Britons and by leaders of both main political parties. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Keir Starmer now faces his first major crisis. He must not only restore law and order but also repair public trust.
The riots followed a horrific knife attack on July 29 in which three girls at a dance class were killed; eight children were wounded, along with two adults. Thugs took to the streets after social media rumors wrongly identified the 17-year-old attacker as a Muslim asylum seeker, in posts viewed millions of times. (In fact, he was born in Wales to Rwandan parents.)