'I want a specific answer': Richard Madeley roasts Suella Braverman over crime

Suella Braverman is the latest politician to get the Richard Madeley treatment, after the presenter roasted her live on television on Monday morning over a policing policy announcement.

The home secretary spent a painful morning speaking to broadcasters about a new crime fighting policy in which she said police would be instructed to follow up every lead, including burglaries, something which has not been happening in some parts of the UK in recent years.

Viewer-favourite Madeley wasn’t satisfied to accept Braverman’s new policy without drilling down into the detail of where things have gone wrong under successive Conservative governments.

He said: “On behalf of the viewers watching this programme – who may have been burgled last night – please stop generalising and telling us how great it all is in other areas… tell us what has gone wrong.”

Braverman responded by saying: “It’s not good enough,” before repeating her forward looking policy announcement.

But Madeley wasn’t done yet. “What’s gone wrong?” he interjected twice again.

Braverman continued talking about what police needed to do in future. “Failure to attend a domestic burglary is absolutely unacceptable,” she said.

“But why is that happening?” asked Madeley once more. He did not get a direct response.

The home secretary also faced a grilling from other news presenters as she unveiled the strategy.

On Sky News, presenter Jayne Secker also hauled her up on some contentious police recruitment figures from recent years.

“There are no extra resources, there are no extra staff to do these jobs. The police are not sitting around on their hands, are they?”

Braverman disagreed that there are no extra resources, claiming she had recruited 20,000 new police officers as part of the drive.

In a wince-inducing correction, however, Secker said: “You’ve lost 20,000 officers since 2010. You’ve gained 23,000. So you’ve gained 3,000.”

“I’ve got the Home Office figures. You’ve got 149,000 police officers at the moment. There were 146,000 in 2010. So absolutely, you have got 3,000 more officers.”

Better luck next time, Suella.

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