Boris Johnson has given his full backing to the head of the Metropolitan Police but admitted the chaos at Saturday night’s vigil for Sarah Everard was “very distressing”.
Cressida Dick has faced calls to resign over her force’s handling of events at Clapham Common in south London, after police were seen grabbing several women and leading them away in handcuffs.
But, speaking to reporters in Coventry, the prime minister said he backed Dame Cressida.
When asked if he had full confidence in the Met chief, Mr Johnson replied: “Yes, I do. And what she’s asked is… that we look at what happened on Saturday night.
“The police do have a very, very difficult job, but there’s no question that the scenes that we saw were very distressing.
“So it’s right Tom Winsor [Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary] should do a full report into it.
“I think people have got to have confidence in the police and Tom’s going to be looking at that.”
