Scotland Yard accused of being 'seized by woke mind virus' as whistleblower claims citizens not treated equally under the law

Scotland Yard has been seized by the "woke mind virus" and fails to treat citizens equally under the law, a veteran officer has claimed.

Rick Prior, who formerly chaired the Metropolitan Police Federation, said the force has focused on equalising outcomes between ethnic groups rather than ensuring equality of opportunity for over ten years.

The former firearms officer, who served 29 years with the Met, said this approach has resulted in skills being lost from the force and has impacted the policing of London's streets.

His allegations appear in a foreword to a Free Speech Union report examining the Nowak case, which has intensified debate over DEI policies in policing.

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Mr Prior wrote he had witnessed the forced rotation of skilled firearms officers to create "churn" and diversify armed policing, "at great cost in lost skills".

He cited a 2022 tribunal which found two very senior officers had racially discriminated against a white inspector, removing him from a promotion process and inserting "a less qualified black candidate instead".

Following George Floyd's death in 2020, the ideology pursuing equal outcomes had "shifted from policy backrooms to operational policing through the London Race Action Plan", Mr Prior added.

He highlighted the Police Anti-Racism Commitment from March last year, calling it "a smoking gun of two-tier policing" which states "producing equality of policing outcomes does not mean treating everyone the same" or being "colourblind".

A senior officer disclosed to Mr Prior that the Met operated what she called a "disproportionality matrix" - "a system to assess which 'low-level' crimes are likely to bring the Met disproportionately into conflict with the black community if it seeks to enforce the law".

Mr Prior had been invited to draft new DEI guidelines last summer and proposed prohibiting officers from wearing political symbols like rainbow lanyards.

He also recommended the force "ensure fair treatment and dignity for all" and called for free speech protection within legal boundaries.

Shortly after submitting his document, a supervisor telephoned to inform him he would be moved to a different department where his "skillset could be better utilised", and the policy was never adopted.

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Mr Prior was elected to chair the Met Federation representing 30,000 officers in April 2024 but was suspended and dismissed six months later after warning that officers were growing wary of dealing with ethnic minorities for fear of racism accusations.

The High Court subsequently ruled his treatment unlawful and a breach of his Article 10 free speech rights.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp described the revelations as further proof of "what amounts to two-tier practice", calling it "divisive and dangerous".

"Equality under the law is fundamental, and must be upheld. We must ban police forces from treating different ethnic groups differently," Mr Philp said, adding that "the police must focus on protecting the public and catching criminals not being the arbiter of ethnic equality".

Reform UK's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said "two-tier policing is now rampant in Britain" and that "anti-white prejudice is structurally embedded into policing".

A spokesman for the Met said: "As the public would expect, we police London without fear or favour and strive to serve all communities equally.

"As society and politics become more polarised, it is vital that policing remains impartial, and all operational decisions are grounded in legal principles."

GB News has approached Scotland Yard for further comment.

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