Budget airlines inundated by calls from MPs as Parliament is recalled
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Some MPs are less than enthusiastic about cutting short their holidays to return to Parliament for an emergency debate on the riots.
Many have been forced to fly back from abroad to be present at tomorrow's debate, which will head Parliament's response to the civil unrest.
The Labour MP Heidi Alexander was on the first day of her honeymoon in New York when she heard that her south London constituency office had been targeted by rioters. Windows were smashed and a laptop was stolen from her office in the Lewisham East constituency. It was unclear yesterday whether she would be returning to London for the debate.
* The Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Dawn Primarolo, flew back home for tomorrow's debate after visiting South Africa during the recess.
One budget airline said it had been inundated with calls from MPs trying to get home in time for the debate. The carrier says that so far it has helped more than 60.
Glenda Jackson, the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, told her local paper the Camden New Journal: "It's not about deprivation, it's deprivation of decency. You don't shit on your own doorstep."
Angie Bray, Conservative MP for Ealing Central and Acton, cut short her holiday in Gloucestershire to be in Ealing. "I've left my partner on holiday," she said. "This is where I need to be." She said that the spread of the violence to more affluent areas represented a new challenge and the public and politicians would have to "redefine" the meaning of Britain's long-held tradition of "policing by consent".
"The public need to be clear what powers they want the police to have and we have to deliver that," she said.
Among those MPs unhappy with the recall of Parliament were Steve Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West, where a group of 200 rioters clashed with police. He questioned what use "200 MPs sitting in Westminster" would do for the country. "We can do much more at home in our constituencies," he said. Mr Williams has had to cancel a holiday to Wales to attend Parliament.
Croydon MP Gavin Barwell said that if violence escalated any further, then the unprecedented move of deploying the Army to London's streets would be "something Parliament has to look at".
* It was originally reported in this article that Ms Primarolo was unable to secure a flight home, whereas she was, in fact, able to secure one.
Recalling: The past
Since 1948, the House of Commons has been recalled 24 times. The Speaker makes the decision on the basis of representations made by ministers. The expenses incurred by MPs are paid by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. In 1951, 1959 and 1970, Parliament was recalled in order to be dissolved ahead of an election.
Times of trouble:
27-29 September 1949: devaluation of sterling
12-19 September 1950: the British contribution to UN forces in the Korean War
12-14 September 1956: the Suez Crisis
17-23 October 1961: confrontation with the USSR
16 January 1968: government spending cuts
26-27 August 1968: the Prague Spring and Nigerian civil war
22-23 September 1971: violence in Londonderry
9-10 January 1974: new measures to ration fuel as Opec oil crisis escalates
3-4 June 1974: the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive
3 April 1982: Falklands invasion
14 April 1982: British and Argentine forces clash
6-7 September 1990: Kuwait invasion
24-25 September 1992: economic crisis at home and UN operations in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Somalia debated
31 May 1995: Nato involvement in the Bosnian conflict
2-3 September 1998: Omagh bomb
14 September, 4 and 8 October 2001: 11 September attacks
3 April 2002: death of the Queen Mother
24 September 2002: Iraq
20 July 2011: the hacking scandal