Sir Hugh Orde: Riots were ‘unique’ and politicians return was an ‘irrelevance’

Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, calls riots "unique" and says that the return of politicians from holiday was an "irrelevance" in terms of the tactics deployed:

"The police faced an unprecedented situation, unique circumstances.

"The fact that politicians chose to come back [from holiday] is an irrelevance in terms of the tactics that were by then developing.

"The more robust policing tactics you saw were not a function of political interference; they were a function of the numbers being available to allow the chief constables to change their tactics."