Johnson and PM clash over knife crime

BORIS JOHNSON and Theresa May clashed over how to tackle knife crime this week, after the former mayor of London called for stop and search measures to be extended to deal with a rise in fatal stabbings.

During a private meeting of the Prime Minister’s most senior team, she and the Foreign Secretary are understood to have had a “robust and frank” discussion about whether police should be encouraged to use the tool more, especially in London.

Mrs May curbed the use of stop and search when she was Home Secretary in 2014, claiming it was “unfair, particularly to young black men” who were stopped more frequently than others.

However Mr Johnson, whose time in City Hall saw knife crime and the overall murder rate fall despite a rising population, is a strong advocate of the measure and told the Cabinet meeting that it is the only way to tackle the current problem.

He is said to have cited his own record and how stop and search powers helped, adding that knife crime in the capital has since spiralled out of control. Mr Johnson also highlighted the poor record of Sadiq Khan, the current Mayor, on tackling violent crime.

Mrs May reportedly challenged the Foreign Secretary’s call for the power to be more widely used, warning that stop and search should only be employed when necessary and not as a blanket tool. She has previously argued that the power needed reform because it was too widely used, but is not thought to be wholly against its use, despite claiming many stop and search incidents were “probably illegal”.

Sources in the meeting said the conversation was cool but not angry and no other ministers stood up on either side after Amber Rudd talked her colleagues through a plan to tackle serious crime, expected to be announced next month.

A Cabinet minister told The Spectator magazine the two senior Tories “irritate each other”, while sources pointed out to The Telegraph that it is not the first time they have clashed.

Mr Johnson was furious after Mrs May, then the Home Secretary, banned the Met from using water cannon, which he had bought in the wake of the 2011 riots. A source said the pair fundamentally disagree on the best way to tackle crime. Use of stop and search has fallen from 1.2million instances in 2009 to around 300,000 last year.

Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, recently told police they should not be afraid to use stop and search powers if they are targeted and proportionate.