In defence of Shaun Bailey

It’s possible I am alone in not minding about Shaun Bailey’s observations during the hunt for poor Sarah Everard. Before her body was found, he tweeted that ‘as a father and husband it breaks me to think that my wife and daughter have to live in fear in their own city. It doesn’t have to be this way. As Mayor, I‘ll ensure that we are working to deliver for the safety of women and girls in London.’

Was that wrong? We saw last night at that catastrophically mismanaged vigil at Clapham Common that women’s safety is a live issue. The subject of women living in fear was all anyone could talk about at the time, and ever since. His critics say that he was making capital about an unfortunate woman’s disappearance, which we now know to be murder. But if the issue of the day – the only issue – is, was, how women can be safer on the streets, then ‘working to deliver for the safety of women and girls in London’ was speaking to the point.