Why there is no two-tier policing in France

The phrase ‘without fear or favour’ has been much in the news of late. Whether the maxim is still applicable to the British constabulary is a matter of conjecture. Some, like the ex-policeman Harry Miller, have been saying for years that the police ‘have traded impartiality for the praise of special interest groups’. Miller was visited by Humberside police in January 2020 after he expressed gender-critical views in an online poem. He later won a legal challenge against the police.

Others insist that the police remain impartial. Interviewed during the recent anti-immigration riots in England, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper rejected the idea of ‘two-tier policing’, saying they operate ‘without fear or favour, whatever the kinds of crimes it is that they face.’

Harry Miller might challenge that view, as might the teacher from Batley Grammar school. He remains in hiding more than three years after an Islamist mob gathered outside his place of work after he showed a caricature of the Prophet during a discussion about free speech.