Theresa May has hit back at senior police officers who objected to politicians’ criticism of their response to England’s riots, insisting that telling them “what the public want them to do” was the Home Secretary’s job. Relations between the police and the Government, already stretched over the issue of budget cuts, have erupted into a bitter war of words as Tim Godwin, Acting Commissioner of Scotland Yard, mounted a fierce defence of his force and lambasted politicians for their “inconsistencies” over tactics. Meanwhile, in Birmingham, a man and a boy will appear in court today charged with the murders of three men killed when a car ploughed into them as they tried to protect their community from looters on Wednesday. Joshua Donald, 29, of Ladywood, and a 17-year-old boy from Winson Green will appear in one of a number of unprecedented Sunday court sessions. In London alone, more than 3,000 rioters and looters could face criminal charges, Mr Godwin said, vowing to “exhaust all opportunities” to bring offenders to justice. “The chances of getting caught are extremely strong,” he said. “To say that the Metropolitan Police has been timid I find extremely hurtful and untrue. I have some of the bravest, most courageous men and women that anyone has had the honour to lead,” added Mr Godwin, who is Britain’s most senior policeman. Mrs May said: “The police and the politicians have different jobs to do here. The police h

The Republican presidential campaign has been upended with Rick Perry, the Texas governor, announcing he is joining the race, immediately stealing the limelight from Michele Bachmann’s narrow victory in the Iowa straw poll. Mr Perry’s muscular declaration during a speech to conservative bloggers hundreds of miles away in South Carolina propels him into a frontrunning league previously occupied only by Mitt Romney. Even before his announcement, Mr Perry had already begun shooting up Republican opinion polls, buoyed by the support of conservatives sceptical of the moderate Mr Romney but unconvinced of the executive credentials of the existing right-wing candidates. This morning he became the bookmaker’s favourite at 6-4 to become the Republican candidate. Mr Perry is also the only candidate likely to rival Mr Romney’s fundraising power, given his track r

A-level students have received their results days early after an exam board blunder. One of England’s largest exam boards mistakenly opened up its online results service for hours yesterday allowing candidates to log on five days before they were meant to. Edexcel apologised to those affected by the latest blunder which affected at least 100 pupils from a number of schools. It means some students will know ahead of Thursday, when rersults are officially released, whether they have made it on to courses and could give them a head start in clearing if they have missed their grades. The latest mistake follows an erroneous text message sent by the Scottish Exam board revealing results of Higher exams a day early last month. This year’s exams were blighted by a series of errors contained in papers which made questions impossible to answer because they