Britain’s top cop has accused Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson of being “personally offensive” in an angry clash over policing.
Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said Mr Anderson had only a “partial understanding of the law” as he was questioned by the senior MP at Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee on what the Met was doing to tackle disruptive eco-protests.
As the exchange came to a head, Sir Mark told Mr Anderson: “I am not going to sit here … if people want to be personally offensive, then write it in newspapers, but I’m not going to answer those questions.”
Mr Anderson, dubbed “30p Lee” for claiming people who used food banks didn’t know how to cook properly and that meals could be prepared for that sum, pressed Sir Mark over activists outside Parliament he accused of setting up a “Glastonbury on Thames”.
He asked whether there should be “zero-tolerance” of disruptive protests and urged Sir Mark to “leave the ivory tower and got out there and sorted these people out”.
“You’ve got the powers now to do this,” Mr Anderson said.
But Sir Mark replied: “You are making selective comments based on a partial understanding of the law.
“The law is very clear that protest is disruptive and to a reasonable extent that is allowed. You might not like that, but I have to work to the law rather than whim.
“You might want to believe the law says that no disruption is allowed whatsoever through protests, but that is not the case.”
Mr Anderson said he “did not think” the Met commissioner was “doing his job correctly” and asked whether he had “the confidence of the public”.
Committee chairwoman Diana Johnson stepped in after Sir Mark accused Mr Anderson of being “personally offensive”.
The Labour MP said: “I don’t think we want to be personally offensive, we are trying to get to what the problems are in the Met and how you are going to tackle them.”
