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Well, when we’ve got a Cabinet that swaps around ministers and does more recycling than Greta Thunberg, something like this was bound to happen. James Cleverly was left with egg on his face on Thursday, after committing a comical gaff at a major policing conference.
Cleverly was this week appointed as the Home Secretary, replacing Suella Braverman who was fired from her role on Monday. The outgoing minister defied Downing Street to publish an incendiary article in The Times, which accused the Met Police of ‘being biased’.
It’s common knowledge that the top Tory was more than happy in his previous role as the Foreign Secretary. However, he vacated the position for the returning David Cameron, switching his brief in the process. Already, it seems Cleverly will have a better working relationship with law enforcement authorities.
He assured serving officers, who were gathered at annual meeting of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), that he would ‘back them in public’, and ‘criticise them privately’ if he had to – departing sharply from the rhetoric of his predecessor:
“I will back you when you do the right thing, and I want you to know that I will be critical if I think you need to be critical. But I will always attempt to do so professionally, calmly, directly so that we always maintain that professional working relationship.”
“I think you can have a relationship that has challenge, and demands excellence and professionalism, without having to be in a relationship of conflict. The two are not inextricably linked. My instinct is always to praise in public, to criticise in private.” | James Cleverly
Though his words may have brought some reassurance, it wasn’t quite a ‘flawless’ speech from James Cleverly. He told those in attendance that they should feel comfortable to speak to him and his team ‘at the Foreign Office’.
Laughter ensued, before Cleverly promptly corrected the record, to reflect his new role in the Home Office.
