Boris Johnson was “outraged” with a Conservative police commissioner who said women “need to be streetwise” in the wake of the Sarah Everard murder case, Oliver Dowden has said.
Hinting that Philip Allott could be dropped as the party’s candidate for police, fire and crime commissioner in North Yorkshire at the next election for the position in North Yorkshire, the Tory Party chair added the remarks were “stupid” and “completely unacceptable”.
The commissioner, who later apologised, said women should become more aware of which offences they can charge for it, after it emerged that serving officer Wayne Couzens — given a whole life sentence for Ms Everard’s murder — had falsely arrested her for a breach of coronavirus guidelines.
“So women, after all, need to be streetwise about when they can be arrested and when they can’t be arrested. She should never have been arrested and submitted to that,” Mr Allott told the BBC on Friday — provoking outrage.
In response to his comments, Mr Dowden told Sky News: “The prime minister and I were outraged by what he said. It was completely acceptable.
“I’ve been very clear in condemning it. I know the prime minister shares that view. He [Mr Allott] did immediately apologise and that’s appropriate for him to do so.”
Asked whether the Mr Allott would be offered as a Tory candidate at the next election for crime commissioner in North Yorkshire, Mr Dowden said he didn’t want to “pre-empt the selection process”.
“Be in no doubt the prime minister and I profoundly disagree with what was said. It was a stupid thing to have said and he has rightly apologised for it,” he added. “Let’s wait for the selection process for the new PCC”.
Earlier this week, Lucy Arnold, from the campaign group Reclaim the Streets, who helped organise a vigil following Ms Everard’s death, shared her anger over the comments. “I think frankly that was a horrifically offensive thing to say,” she said.
“Does anyone really feel like they can stand up to a police officer? I am very confident I know my rights, I know the law, but no I wouldn’t feel confident at all,” she said.
Mr Allott later apologised for his remarks, saying: “I would like to wholeheartedly apologise for my comments on BBC Radio York earlier today, which I realise have been insensitive and wish to retract them in full.”
Mr Dowden — the chair of the Conservative Party — also did not rule out an independent inquiry into the vetting procedures of the Metropolitan Police after the murder Ms Everard by a serving officer.
“Of course we don’t rule anything out, but I think it’s important first to understand what happened,” Mr Dowden stressed.
“The first step is to get to the bottom of it, that’s what Cressida Dick has been tasked with — I think it’s important we allow her to do that. If it is the case then subsequently we need to look at it then of course we don’t rule that out.”
Quizzed on whether Cressida Dick was the right person in the role, he added: “The home secretary has made it clear… she will allow the Met commissioner to do the job of trying to sort this out and find out exactly how this happened.
“There are very serious questions to be answered about the kind of oversight described. I think the best approach is the one outlined by the Home Secretary that we allow the commissioner to do that.”
