The head of the Metropolitan Police Federation is taking legal action against his own union, with the support of the Free Speech Union, after he was “cancelled” for suggesting officers were worried about being labelled racist. The Telegraph has more.
Rick Prior, who represents 30,000 rank-and-file officers across London, was suspended as chairman in October over comments he made during a television interview.
He was removed from his democratically elected post for saying his members were increasingly nervous about challenging people from some ethnic minorities.
In an interview with GB News, Mr Prior said: “There’s a striking crisis of confidence at the moment within policing in general, and certainly within the Met police, whereby officers are withdrawing from any kind of proactive policing for fear of falling foul of the IOPC [Independent Office of Police Conduct] or a vexatious or malicious complaint.”
Mr Prior said that there was growing unease among officers over using force, after high-profile incidents including a constable being convicted of assault after challenging a woman who refused to show a valid bus ticket.
The conviction was quashed on appeal, but Mr Prior said that such incidents were eroding the confidence of his members.
He explained: “There seems to be an assumption of racism right from the off, particularly when it’s a white officer and a member of the public from a minority ethnic community.
“And it almost seems as if the onus is then on the police officer to prove that the interaction wasn’t racist.”
In September 2024, the month before Mr Prior’s interview, Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, spoke of “a growing crisis in officers’ confidence to act”, suggesting the system holding the police to account had “got out of kilter”.
The day after Mr Prior’s interview was broadcast, he was suspended by the federation for comments that were allegedly “discriminatory in nature”.
He was locked out of his email and IT system and told he was not allowed to speak to the press or make any comment on social media.
Mr Prior immediately referred himself to the Met’s department of professional standards, which swiftly concluded his comments did not amount to misconduct.
The suspension means Mr Prior is unable to stand in union elections which are due to take place next month.
Because it is his own union that has taken the action against him, it will not fund any legal advice or action in support of his defence.
With the backing of the Free Speech Union campaign group, Mr Prior is crowdsourcing to fund legal action against the federation and is seeking a judicial review of the legality of his suspension.
Worth reading in full.
You can donate to Rick’s crowdfunder here.
— The Free Speech Union (@SpeechUnion) March 17, 2025
PC Rick Prior speaks out on GB News
"The FSU has been absolutely fantastic to me—they've been supporting me right from the off."
As Chair of the Met Police Federation, PC Rick Prior warned that officers fear being accused of racism for doing their jobs.
In short, he did… pic.twitter.com/WG449OOawP
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In these days of low trust in the police, it’s good to see someone with common sense trying to sort out the system and push back against the stupidity of DEI and woke within.
Donated. Good luck
Likewise.
Sadly in cases like the bus ticket incident the police officer was on a hiding to nothing. Offence is in the mind of the alleged aggrieved person and has been seen to be a dynamic affliction, growing worse with “supportive” comments. So what might be felt at the time of the incident is amplified by positive feedback until, like audio feedback, it becomes a shrill screech.
Of course, the only evidence of offence remains inside the mind “victim”.
This is mind-blowingly extraordinary. He pays his Federation (union, if you like) subscriptions so is entitled to paid legal advice/representation. Yet, because it’s that body he pays his subscriptions to which has ‘wronged’ him, they won’t pay for his legal representation.
This is oppression to a very deep level. He is *entitled* to that legal representation. They have no right to deny it to him. Their actions suggest that the Police Federation can treat its members as badly as it wants to, knowing that those members would be unable to take action against them.
The Federation famously declined to legally challenge the Conservative government’s pension changes. Thousand of members signed up to a challenge made by a private legal firm. The Federation refused to support this claim. The private firm WON the claim, leaving the Federation looking very stupid to its members, cementing members’ belief in their incompetence.
When I retired from the rozzers six years ago, almost everyone I spoke with at work had little to no faith in the Federation. The general belief seemed to be that the Police Federation existed only to further its own interests and not the interests of the members. I’m sure that wasn’t 100% true for all Federation top officials, but I believed it to an extent (my local Federation representatives were fantastic, I must say).
Well done for all your years of service! I was intrigued by your word “rozzers”, and when I looked it up, many sources said its etymology was unclear, or might be derived from French. But I finally found one which seems correct:
“ROZZERS is a long-standing slang term for the police, which derives from the late 1800s. The term is highly likely to have been coined in the time of Sir Robert Peel, who established the first police force in the area of Rossendale, Lancashire (hence ROZZERS).” [Because Rossendale is pronounced “Rozzendale”]
That’s very kind of you to say, thank you. I and some colleagues have used ‘rozzers’ for years, but never known where it came from. You’ve educated me, and I’ll pass this on. Thanks!!
Add the Police Federation to the long list of unions and professional bodies adept at representing themselves, but less inclined to represent their members.
Making accusations against Mr Prior, while withdrawing his right to paid legal represenation, is straight out of the Franz Kafka playbook.