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Police chiefs’ leader Sir Hugh Orde says home secretary had no role in ‘more robust tactics’ and cuts will mean fewer officers Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers , has rejected home secretary Theresa May’s claims that she had ordered the “more robust” approach that quelled rioting in English cities. Orde said tactics had changed because more officers were made available. The fact that MPs had come home from holiday was “an irrelevance”. May had “no power whatsoever” cancel all police leave, Orde said. “The more robust policing tactics you saw were not a function of political interference; they were a function of the numbers being available to allow the chief constables to change their tactics,” he told BBC’s Newsnight. Orde defended their police after David Cameron used an emergency debate on the riots in the Commons to critice their tactics. Meanwhile a 22-year-old man has been arrested over the murder of Richard Mannington Bowes , the 68-year-old who was attacked as he tried to put out a fire during riots in Ealing. Bowes had been in hospital with critical injuries – his death was announced early this morning. Four other deaths coinciding with the riots are being investigated by police. A man was found shot in a car in Croydon and three men were hit by a car in Birmingham. Courts again sat through the night as magistrates heard charges against many of those arrested during the four nights of violence. The Metropolitan police have made 1047 arrests since the rioting began on Saturday, with 584 people charged. West Midlands police have arrested 445 people and 178 have been arrested in Manchester and Salford. Police had faced an “unprecedented situation, unique circumstances,” Orde said in the BBC interview. “The fact that politicians chose to come back [from holiday] is an irrelevance in terms of the tactics that were by then developing. The more robust policing tactics you saw were not a function of political interference; they were a function of the numbers being available to allow the chief constables to change their tactics.” Cuts to policing budgets would “inevitably” lead to fewer police officers, he said. “We need to have some very honest conversations with government about what we stop doing if we are to maintain frontline service delivery at current levels. “It’s the 20% cuts in the present spending period that will lead to less police officers, we should be very clear about that.” UK riots Theresa May Police Hugh Orde James Meikle guardian.co.uk