After three nights of escalating violence, arson and looting which have left parts of London looking like a war zone, Prime Minister David Cameron has one pressing question to answer from citizens looking to him for reassurance and action: “Who controls Britain’s streets?”<\/p>\n
Throughout Monday night and the early hours of Tuesday morning the answer to that question appeared to be “the mob.” It certainly was not the police, politicians or local community leaders, all of whom were overwhelmed by the unprecedented scale of the violence and the speed with which it escalated and spread, first, from one London borough to another and then, perhaps inevitably, to other cities including Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol.<\/p>\n
If Cameron cannot offer a different answer to the question, one that reassures people that government ministers and the police have control, then the consequences for his leadership could be far reaching and, ultimately, even lethal.<\/p>\n