FORMER Brexit Secretary David Davis has questioned why Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick is criticising levels of immigration, as he was the minister responsible for the issue in the previous government.
He told Camilla Tominey on GB News: “My biggest worry with Robert is he was in charge of immigration but clearly he is now criticising.
“I’m not on to criticise any of the candidates, to be truthful. I couldn’t resist the temptation. But they’ve all got, in my view, they’ve all got to prove something. They’ve all got to prove that they can be a good opposition leader.
“They’ve all been in government, frankly, for the last x years and it’s an incredibly different job. Look at the tough time William Hague had, the most brilliant speaker of his generation, fantastic at the despatch box.
“After four years with William, we got one extra seat…so what I want to see is how good they are at that. I’m not going to make up my mind until I’ve seen them strike some blows against Labour.”
He was also asked about the recent riots, and said: “I don’t start by giving the rioters the benefit of the doubt on this. Let’s understand they’re hooligans, they’re criminals. They’re people looking for a fight.
“They’re not lots of people. About 80% of the public worry about immigration and think it’s too high. They don’t think enough integration is taking place but none of this actually really relates to that.
“Remember, the riots started with a lie, or three lies…I don’t have that many criticisms of the Government or the police on this to be honest.
“But what I would say is, perhaps they should have been faster to crush all that misinformation.”
Davis said tech companies need to clamp down on the spread of disinformation: “I’m generally not in favour of de-platforming because it very rapidly turns into a sort of general cancel culture problem.
“It also creates martyrs but I am sympathetic to the idea that we should treat these people like publishers.
“If your newspaper, your channel, publishes something which was an incitement to violence, let’s stick with the real crimes – if it’s an incitement to violence, it should be held responsible.
“They’re not exactly poor, these organisations, yet they tend to always say, ‘oh it’s too difficult’.”