Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley had a bruising encounter with the BBC’s Emma Barnett on the Today Programme this morning over the arrest of comedian Graham Linehan. Rowley refused to say the arrest was a mistake, instead blaming “national policies” and Home Office rules. Rowley said he wouldn’t “pore over one case”:
“I’m not going to criticise officers for following national Home Office policies, Home Office counting rules, Home Office incident recording standards… All of the inspections of policing are about following those policies to the letter. That drives this behaviour.”
Barnett went on to ask whether the officers were “scared” not to arrest Linehan, to which Rowley said:
“I don’t think scared is the right word… officers are making judgments in thousands of cases. The national guidance is very clear about following through on what the victim alleges, taking that at face value.”
Revealing…
Last night, HM Inspector of Constabulary Sir Andy Cooke called for non-crime hate incidents to be scrapped, saying officers must use “common sense” and discretion instead. Pressure piling on Labour over this…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”