The Freemasons are considering legal action against the Metropolitan police after the commissioner announced plans to force officers to say whether or not they are members, The Observer understands.The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) has held consultations on potential legal action that could include a judicial review after Sir Mark Rowley announced plans last week for Met officers to make an obligatory declaration if they are “on the square”.In an appearance on LBC Radio on Friday, Rowley claimed that based on “the intelligence picture” that was available to him, as well as other factors, he was satisfied the move was absolutely necessary.
He went on to say: “There are many, many women officers in the organisation particularly who are massively relieved at this decision because they feel they are disadvantaged by, sadly, a boys’ club.”
In its response, the Grand Lodge, which would not comment on potential legal action, said: “At no point has this evidence been shared with us, to allow us to address concerns and if necessary, take action.“We call on the Commissioner’s Office to release this intelligence as soon as practical, to enable us and the public to evaluate its credibility as a reason for this policy to be enacted.”In October, Rowley suggested to City Hall’s police and crime committee that the head of the Met Police Federation, Matt Cane, was a Freemason, forcing Cane to issue a public statement denying that he was or ever had been.
One senior mason and former Met police officer said: “Rowley has made this his personal campaign. Do we not have a right to a private life?“The Freemasons do a lot of good. We give huge amounts of money to charity - when you see the London Air Ambulance in the sky on any given day that’s usually down to our donations.”He added that it would be naive to assume there had never been any masonic influence on operational matters, but that he had never seen any.
Officers’ membership of the Freemasons has been a controversial issue in historical scandals including the unsolved murder of Daniel Morgan in 1987 and the handling of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Kenneth Noye, the “fence” in the Brink’s-Mat robbery in 1983, was also a Freemason. Noye, who allegedly tried and failed to persuade masons in the police to help him evade prosecution, was eventually thrown out for failing to pay his membership fees.
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In 2018, the outgoing chairman of the Police Federation, Steve White, blamed masonic influences for blocking internal reform.As home secretary, Jack Straw made an abortive attempt to make police officers and judges sign a register confirming whether or not they were Freemasons.
Photo by Picture Post/Kurt Hutton/Hulton Archive