Freemasons seek injunction to halt plans forcing Met officers to reveal their membership
Freemasons are seeking an injunction to stop the introduction of a new policy requiring Metropolitan Police officers to declare their membership.
The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) and other groups representing the secret society in England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have opposed plans announced earlier this month to make membership in Freemasonry a “declarable” association.
This will mean that officers and staff must declare “past or present” membership of any organization that “has hierarchical, confidential membership and requires members to support and protect each other”.
In response, UGLE announced that the policy would be subject to judicial review, arguing that it could violate human rights and GDPR rules.
They called for the implementation to be suspended so that a full consultation can take place on the changes. While the Met has now agreed to consult, it is not halting distribution.
UGLE announced today that it had commenced proceedings by applying for an injunction to suspend the policy pending the outcome of the judicial review.
UGLE grand secretary Adrian Marsh said: “There is a contradiction between the Met’s acceptance of our request for wider consultation, which we welcome, and its subsequent refusal to suspend the decision pending the outcome of that consultation.
“The consultation process to date has been wholly inadequate, biased and unfair and this action is the first step we must take to protect our members whose integrity has been damaged by the Met decision.”
He has previously said there are only 440 Freemasons among 32,135 officers in the Met and claimed it was “inconceivable” that such a small number could have any impact on the force.
UGLE claimed they were not properly included in the consultation process, with less than 5 per cent of officers and staff completing the survey on the issue, and accused the force of refusing to consider any alternative solutions.
And it was said that the necessity of Freemasons to support and protect each other came with the caveat that this did not harm their families or the law of the land.
The move to enable officers to declare past or present membership of Freemasons was recommended in the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel report; this report was an investigation into the agency’s handling of the unsolved 1987 murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan.
The 37-year-old father of two was axed to death in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south-east London, on March 10, 1987.
A series of investigations over decades have uncovered allegations of corruption.
The 2021 report said police officers’ Masonic affiliation was “a recurring source of suspicion and distrust in investigations.”
The Met’s decision follows a survey of officers and staff that showed two-thirds of respondents felt membership of such organizations affected perceptions of police impartiality and public trust.
Recently Sir Mark Rowley put forward a plan to declare membership as part of wider moves to increase transparency at the Met.
