The Government needs to get a grip and get involved

But it is how they behave in the aftermath that defines them.

Every crisis is a crossroads for ministers to either amplify the failure or take the opportunity to display leadership, grip, humility and decency.

Now consider the chain of events since convicted sex offender Hadush Kebatu was released from Chelmsford Prison rather than detained by Immigration officers and deported.

Although Justice MInister David Lammy explained the failure to the House of Commons the sum total of action to deal with the prisons crisis was to introduce a lengthy pre-release checklist and ask Dame Lynne Owens to do a review.

Given the public outcry, that wasn’t a sufficient response and didn’t begin to address the severe problems of prison violence and overcrowding being managed by inexperienced staff who are also implementing controversial early release schemes.

Kebatu was convicted of five sexual offences against a 14-year-old girl and an adult woman. The crimes sparked protests against the Epping Hotel housing asylum applicants where he stayed so it was clear that his mistaken release would be explosive and deeply disturbing for the victims.

Yet, inexplicably, David Lammy and his ministers have felt no need to speak directly to the victims and their families to apologise and update them; they left this to the Police Liaison Officers. The family of the 14 year old girl asked for a meeting with Lammy but their request was refused.

If you were the Justice Secretary and in charge of our prisons, wouldn’t you have insisted on speaking to them and meeting them as soon as possible? Isn’t that the decent thing to do?

On Tuesday 4 November Lammy was told that a week earlier Wandsworth Prison mistakenly released Brahim Kaddour Cherif, another foreign national convicted of sex offences.

He knew he was standing in for Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions the following day. He had a golden opportunity to be proactive and transparent by informing the House of Commons and demonstrating some grasp of the situation.

Instead, he said nothing. In a bizarre display, he lost his temper after being asked repeatedly to apologise to Kebatu’s victims and shouted at his Conservative opponent James Cartlidge to ‘get a grip’.

In a later twist, he said he wasn’t wearing a poppy when he entered the chamber because he had bought a new suit that morning, an interesting activity when a sex offender is at large because one of your prisons let him out. It was later clarified that the suit story was a joke. So it was a lie?

Whatever the truth, it was a complete failure to appreciate the political peril and show the required level of decency and humility.

His refusal to return to the House of Commons to give a proper statement or to grant media interviews, and his sending out a junior minister instead, only served to reinforce that failure.

On Saturday evening, there was a horrific knife attack on a train near Huntingdon with multiple serious injuries and large numbers of traumatised passengers.

It was a deeply disturbing event for the whole country, which was amplified when it emerged that the arrested suspect was being investigated in connection with another serious knife attack hours earlier in London.

Social media was full of rumours about the attacker and irresponsible statements about how the crime highlights what is wrong with our society.

You would have expected the Home Secretary to visit the scene and meet Police officers, train staff and injured victims. You might even think the Prime Minister should have gone too.

Though both issued statements, neither took the opportunity to be visible and display grip and leadership. Why is that?

To govern is to lead. If the very public servants we rely on to keep us safe put us in danger, the Government needs to be visible, to listen and act with honesty and humility. To set aside fears about not having all the facts or entering the raw scene of a horrific crime or meeting angry victims' families.

By doing this, ministers learn to govern better because they see and hear things they might not otherwise hear, and they might even gain some respect.

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James Sorene is a commentator and writer.

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