The poor, little rioters lost hope in the future

On 2 March 2012, Margaret Hodge, MP for Barking, and Chairperson of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions?

At one point, Hodge interrupted a fellow panellist and asked:

“Are you suggesting that the riots last summer did not have legitimate causes?”

Which implies that Hodge, herself, thinks the rioters had a case, does it not? She added:

“We all regret the damage that was caused but what you do have to understand is, the reason that young people were rioting across Britain was because they had lost hope in the future. In my own constituency, if you are among the one in four young people out of work and you are starting your life, you apply for endless jobs, you cannot afford to go to university, you may not have the right qualifications, then you lose a bit of hope.”

'You lose a bit of hope.'

So you riot. And steal. And destroy. And kill. And it’s understandable. According to the left-wing New Labour MP whom Tony Blair thought fit to make Children’s Minister in the last administration.

Margaret Hodge, an Egyptian immigrant, was born Margaret Oppenheimer.

She is Jewish.