Calls by the LibDems to delay the awarding of Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman’s CBE are misplaced.
Mr Hayman is a dedicated public servant who, along with thousands of other police officers last year, showed huge commitment to the people of London.
Honouring him also notes the dedication of those thousands of rank and file officers who had leave cancelled, whose own domestic lives were thrown into turmoil and yet who proudly served their city during a time of great public unease.
Of course recent events in Forest Gate are unfortunate and police have lessons to learn about how they respond to future reports of suspected terror activity. What cannot be an option is to do nothing and put the wider public at risk.
If the police are to carry out their duty there will always be instances of people arrested and later released without charge. Provided they are acting on the basis of trusted intelligence such raids are always right and in the public interest. By the logic of the LibDems there would never be a right time to Mr Hayman to collect his honour.
By claiming recent events provide sufficient reason for delaying this award the LibDems are guilty of the same knee-jerk reaction to headlines of which they so often accuse the Prime Minister.
