Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Mark Rowley has released a statement saying the police were forced to arrest comedian Graham Linehan for his X posts. Hitting back at the law…
He said:
“Most reasonable people would agree that genuine threats of physical violence against an identified person or group should be acted upon by officers. Such actions can and do have serious and violent real-world implications.
But when it comes to lesser cases, where there is ambiguity in terms of intent and harm, policing has been left between a rock and a hard place by successive governments who have given officers no choice but to record such incidents as crimes when they’re reported. Then they are obliged to follow all lines of enquiry and take action as appropriate.”
Rowley went on to say he had offered Yvette Cooper suggestions on how to clarify law and policy on these issues, warning that officers would have to “make similar decisions in future unless the law and guidance is changed”. Pressure on Cooper now to act…
Kemi Badenoch at the 1922-ConHome bash last night:
“I did praise [Burnham] for his stamina, it was amazing. All I had to do was sit back and lie there. I didn’t have to do anything at all…”