Yard leadership to blame for litany of disasters, says David Davis

Sctoland Yard's leadership and tactics came under an astonishing attack from a former shadow home secretary today.

Tory MP David Davis said the failure to control riots this week was the latest in a "litany of disasters" at the Met. He laid the blame with senior officers, demanding "real and drastic change at the top".

"From the bungled arrest of the ricin plotters to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the failure to investigate the ringleader of the July 21 suicide bomb plot, the arrest of Damian Green, the admission that not one of its 100,000 stop and searches under the Terrorism Act had led to a terror-related arrest, and finally the 'Hackgate' scandal, the Met has stumbled from one blunder to another," he said. "The result: its reputation, and its confidence, has been severely damaged. For a decade we've seen the consequences of the Met's flawed counter-terrorism strategy, and now London is suffering as a result of its failure to tackle gang culture and control the riots."

It is the most outspoken criticism yet of the Met in the wake of looting and rioting which left parts of the capital smouldering, and comes as the force is looking for a new Commissioner following the resignation of Sir Paul Stephenson over the phone hacking scandal.

Mr Davis, the MP for Haltemprice and Howden who once forced a by-election over the erosion of British liberties, said people had been "astonished" to see lines of police standing back while shops were ransacked and buildings set on fire.

"A police officer called to the scene of a bank robbery would not park across the street and wait patiently for it to finish, so why were the Met's riot police little more than spectators during the looting?" he wrote on Conservative Home.

Dismissing claims that senior officers had not ordered the tactic, he added: "The TV pictures speak for themselves."

Acting Met Commissioner Tim Godwin today repeated denials that officers had not taken on looters and said he was "extremely proud" of their bravery.

Mayor Boris Johnson also said the police had "done brilliantly" in restoring order over recent days.

A Facebook page supporting the force against the rioters has been backed by almost a million people.