Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Suella Braverman’s clumsiness makes Met reform less likely

(Credit: Getty images)

Suella Braverman’s career as Home Secretary may be over very soon. But a long tail of it will be the criticism she has made of the Metropolitan Police. It was unprecedented for a Home Secretary to make the claims she did of ‘picking favourites’ and bias. In the long-term, reforming the police might have become harder.

Only a few months ago, the prevailing mood in Westminster was that the Metropolitan Police was in need of reform, not just because of its seeming inability to root out rogue coppers following the murder of Sarah Everard, the conviction of David Carrick, and the revelations of misogyny from the Charing Cross Police Station, but also because of the way it policed the vigil for Everard.

Patsy Stevenson was one of the women arrested that day. The striking photo of heavy-booted officers pushing her to the ground was plastered all over the newspapers.

Isabel Hardman
Written by
Isabel Hardman
Isabel Hardman is assistant editor of The Spectator and author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians. She also presents Radio 4’s Week in Westminster.

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