Commendation of Female Police Constable for Defending Free Speech – and Call for Even-Handed Action on Anti-Christian Hostility

As part of my ongoing commitment to defend Britain’s Christian heritage, free speech, and fair policing, I have today sent the following letter to Sir Mark Rowley, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

It commends a courageous female constable while highlighting concerning patterns of hostility towards Christian preachers and urging impartial enforcement of the law.

Britain must remain a nation where open debate is protected, not suppressed by claims of “no-go” areas or selective policing.

𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒓

𝐼 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒 (𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝐶𝐸2000) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑙, 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑛, 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑑. 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑤 𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑐ℎ.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑚 𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 “𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎” 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒. 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠, “𝑊𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑎 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑛,” 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖-𝑆𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐, 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒. 𝐼 𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝑃𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 (𝑀𝑃𝑆) 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑑 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 4 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑂𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝐴𝑐𝑡 1986. 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑒-𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘, 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, “𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦, 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑐ℎ.” 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑖𝑛 𝑈𝑥𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒, 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐼𝑛 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑙, 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝐼𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟. 𝑆𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠, 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒 𝑎 𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦.

𝑈𝐾 𝑙𝑎𝑤 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑐ℎ, 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑐ℎ, 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝐴𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 10 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝐴𝑐𝑡 1998. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑣 𝑈𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑜𝑚 (1976) 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 “𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑, 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏.” 𝐼𝑛 𝑅𝑒𝑑𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑑-𝐵𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑣 𝐷𝑃𝑃 (1999), 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑎𝑤 𝑝𝑟𝑜ℎ𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠.

𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑠 𝑜𝑓 “𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠” 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒. 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑠 (𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠) 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓𝑠.

𝐼𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑃𝑆 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑁𝑜𝑛-𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝐻𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐼𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 (𝑁𝐶𝐻𝐼𝑠), 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙, 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙/𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦. 𝑁𝐶𝐻𝐼𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑦.

𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑃𝑆 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒.

𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑝𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤-𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤.

𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦

𝗙𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀

1. MSN article: https://www.msn.com/.../moment-muslim-man.../ar-AA1WTGD2...

2. YouTube video: https://youtu.be/ZZpJv3r5kBw?si=GIRBK22_r3wYxR0h

3. YouTube video (duplicate): https://youtu.be/ZZpJv3r5kBw?si=whBDeF_EEb3JxzS4

4. YouTube video: https://youtu.be/U-8YgtHTBF4?si=Z95zKy2DSwD-Vxf2

5. Redmond-Bate v DPP [1999] EWHC Admin 733: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/1999/733.html

6. Handyside v United Kingdom (1976) 1 EHRR 737: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-57499

7. Public Order Act 1986: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64/contents

8. Human Rights Act 1998: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/contents

9. Incident of Uxbridge preachers: https://christianconcern.com/.../police-weaponise-pspo-to...

10. Bristol pastor arrests: https://adfinternational.org/.../police-arrested-and...

11. MPS NCHI policy update: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8l0v54ggjo

12. MPS contact emails: mark.rowley@met.police.uk (Commissioner); complaints@met.police.uk (general complaints); dpsmailbox-cib@met.police.uk (Directorate of Professional Standards). Source: https://www.met.police.uk/.../contact-us-about-a-complaint/

Photo courtesy of Auditing Britain