Can Starmer’s border security commander ‘smash the gangs’?

Keir Starmer finally has a chair for the government’s Border Security Command. When the Prime Minister first entered government, the Home Office advertised for someone to head the new unit, which ministers hope will be their answer to ‘stopping the boats’. Overnight, Martin Hewitt has been named as the successful applicant. He is a senior police officer who previously served as chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

During that time Hewitt suggested that politicians ought to refrain from calling police ‘woke’ as ‘it is an easy one-liner that will get you a bit of a headline, and it’s great in social media, but I don’t think it’s particularly helpful’. He also criticised Boris Johnson’s government for complicating already confusing lockdown rules (which he was in charge of policing) during the pandemic with media appearances.