Political policing

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Cameron demands police retraction.

Pace many decent policemen trying to do their jobs in difficult circumstances, it is now apparent that – for their politicised leadership (and particularly that of the Met) – the police service is now the paramilitary wing of the Labour Party.

The BBC and other left-wing media are gleefully reporting Quick's disgraceful remarks about Conservative "corruption", while mentioning far more quietly that he has since withdrawn them. The mere fact that he thinks Britain's left-wing media are Conservative confirms the political bias that was already screamingly apparent from his handling of Greengate.

His career as a policeman should now be over. If he has any honour, it will end by his own resignation.

UPDATE: He has now apologised unreservedly. Good for him. That already puts him on a higher plane of existence than his political masters. Of course, I have sympathy with his anger at journalists jeopardising his family's safety and – as a hothead myself – can quite understand how his intemperate outburst happened. The fact remains that, in leaping to such conclusions on no evidence, he let his political bias show and unwittingly explained why his boys (as the Met's own internal enquiry found) went over the top in their dealings with Damian Green and his family. Has he also inadvertently revealed how rapidly and on how little evidence the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist officers form suspicions? I hope not.