Haringey's mayor praises the London riots, continuing two shameful Labour traditions

By Mark Wallace
Follow Mark on Twitter.

The police in Balcombe are evidently not the only ones to have learned nothng from the London riots.

Shockingly, Sheila Peacock, the Labour mayor of the London Borough of Haringey - which encompasses Tottenham, has said that the riots were:

"the best thing that’s happened in Tottenham for a while"

Why? Because her authority has got more public money, of course. It apparently doesn't matter to Cllr Peacock that people were burned out of house and home, lives threatened, innocents intimidated and property destroyed. 

Her comments are in keeping with two shameful Labour traditions.

The first is Bernie Grant's apparent sympathy for those who felt that "the police got a bloody good hiding" in the Broadwater Farm riot. Notably, none other than Haringey Council named a community centre after Grant in 2007 and put their name to a blue plaque in his honour only last year.

The second tradition is a more widespread Labour sickness - the willingness to celebrate bad news when it's in their own interest.

Plenty of people have commented on Ed Balls' apparent enthusiasm when the economic data is poor, and his deflation when the figures improve. Similarly, this site has long pointed to examples of Labour councils cutting frontline services to make a political point rather than making savings elsewhere.

Cllr Peacock has taken this tendency to a new low. A decent human being would be horrified at rioting, whether it boosted their own budget or not. Evidently Haringey's mayor is not such a person.