17-05-2025
Suella Braverman: Arrest of ex-special constable over tweet is ‘national embarrassment'
The arrest of a retired special constable over a tweet warning about rising anti-Semitism is a 'national embarrassment', Suella Braverman has said.
Last weekend, The Telegraph revealed that Julian Foulkes, 72, from Gillingham, Kent, was handcuffed at his home by six Kent Police officers in November 2023 after replying to a pro-Palestinian activist on X.
Mr Foulkes, who volunteered with the force for a decade, had his home searched, and was detained for eight hours, interviewed and cautioned.
It was only on May 6, 18 months later, that Kent Police admitted the caution was a mistake, removed it from his record, and apologised.
On Friday, the former home secretary invited Mr Foulkes to Westminster to commend him for speaking out.
Sitting across from him in her Parliamentary office, Mrs Braverman told Mr Foulkes that she wished she had been able to prevent his ordeal.
'The police seriously erred in this instance, and I think it's caused a national embarrassment because their overreach, their overzealous approach, is a symptom of a deeper problem within policing, which is political correctness,' she said.
' The shorthand is 'woke policing', and this is a real attack on free speech,' she told the former special constable, 'and unfortunately, you're not the only case'.
During her time as home secretary Mrs Braverman attempted to crack down on these practices, her concern was – and still is – that police were being distracted from fighting crime. In September 2023 she ordered an investigation into officers who were 'pandering to politically correct causes' such as taking the knee at Black Lives Matter protests.
This intervention came just two months before Mr Foulkes was arrested, an event she said showed that her attempted reforms had failed.
'I do think that the police have still got a major problem when it comes to being overly politicised, and chief constables are directing their rank and file officers to pursue cases which are totally unmerited and shouldn't warrant police action,' she explained. 'So it has been because I wasn't able to go further, I do think, yes, the problem still exists.'
The MP for Fareham and Waterlooville said she had entered the Home Office with a plan to fix 'woke policing' but that Rishi Sunak, the then prime minister, and police chiefs had been obstructive.
'I tried many ways to try and fix it. It's a very deep, deeply entrenched problem right up to the top of policing,' she said. 'I don't actually think it's rank and file. It's the police chiefs who have signed up to a Left-wing agenda, frankly, and that informs a lot of the police instructions and actions that they take on the ground.'
Other measures Mrs Braverman imposed included guidance to limit the investigation of non-crime hate incidents, which have been criticised for restricting free speech.
But speaking to The Telegraph, Mrs Braverman admitted that 'none of that worked'.
'It's very hard for ministers and indeed police and crime commissioners to get a real and substantial change in policing, as my experience bears out,' she said.
'I was very vocal about my intentions. The police still did what they wanted to do because they didn't get the message from the Home Secretary of all people.'
'Virtue-signalling'
She accused the National Police Chiefs' Council, the College of Policing and a 'large majority' of chief constables of adopting a 'virtue-signalling agenda'.
Mrs Braverman said she would have 'very much liked' to go further in her reforms but was blocked by No 10, leaving her feeling 'powerless'.
'I've got to take responsibility, but no minister can act unilaterally. And you can have the best plans. You can have the best argument for your plans. You can be the most charismatic, intelligent minister. If the Prime Minister doesn't want it to happen, it's not going to happen,' she said.
'I wanted to scrap the College of Policing. I wanted to scrap non crime hate incidents. I wasn't allowed. I wasn't given permission to do that.'
She continued: 'I remember feeling quite powerless actually as Home Secretary, I used to tell my officials this very often, 'I'm Home Secretary, I'm getting the questions, and I'm getting the challenge for poor performance, but I have no levers whatsoever, really, to try and change direction. So there's a fundamental weakness in the system.'
While 'very much' supporting the operational independence of police, she said that the current arrangement needed a rethink because forces use it as protection 'from challenge or scrutiny or accountability'.
Mrs Braverman was ultimately sacked in 2023 following a public row with Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Commissioner, over his refusal to ban a pro-Palestinian march on Armistice Day.
'Eager' to make arrest
She told Mr Foulkes that it was ironic the police were 'very, very eager' to arrest him over his social media post warning about anti-Semitism, 'but when thousands of people were marching through the streets on Armistice Day, chanting anti-Semitic slogans, celebrating terrorism, they suddenly became very meek and mild and didn't have enough resources or powers'.
Mrs Braverman said her struggle to reform the system from within had convinced her that real change may now only come from people like Mr Foulkes speaking out.
'It is high-profile cases like yours, which will have an effect, because it's so shockingly unacceptable the way you were treated that dispassionate, objective observers will, I'm sure, come to the conclusion that there's been a real mistake here by the police. And if you pull that thread, you can see the broader problem.'
Mr Foulkes told Mrs Braverman that he was one of many disillusioned Tory voters who had switched to Reform UK. He said he always sensed her initiatives were being 'thwarted' from within as home secretary, and it was the fact that in 14 years 'nothing seems to have got done' that led him to defect.
'You probably know we want you on board in Reform,' he told Mrs Braverman, noting the fact her husband Rael had already made the switch must make for 'interesting conversations around the dinner table'.
But Mrs Braverman politely dismissed any suggestion she might switch allegiance , saying: 'I've been voting with the Conservatives this week and I'll continue to do so.'
Lord Herbert of South Downs, chairman of the College of Policing disputed Mrs Braverman's portrayal of the organisation, saying: 'This is a grievously distorted view of the college which has been shared by no other Home Secretary.
'The college was set up by a Conservative government, has the support of police chiefs, and is now strongly focused on leadership, standards, and performance in policing. A professional body for the service to deliver on these critical issues is needed now more than ever.'
A Kent Police spokesman said: 'A review, led by the force's Professional Standards department, is under way. The force has apologised to Mr Foulkes for the distress caused and for the way it was investigated.'
The NPCC and Mr Sunak have been approached for comment.
