The blue chimera
Our alternately toothless and overbearing police forces are Westminster’s creatures
DOMINIC ADLER
As a young policeman, I was introduced to a copper’s truism: The Public get the Police they deserve. This made more sense in a less atomised Britain than today’s. A country where its societal virtues — and occasionally vices — might percolate into public service. But now? What kind of public might possibly deserve the gnomic Chief Constable Craig Guildford? The West Midlands Police scandal, whereby officers concocted intelligence to justify banning Israeli football fans, lays bare the rot inside British policing. Chief officers, once schooled in Peelian principles of policing “Without Fear or Favour”, are now in hock to local ideologues, behaving like compliant local gauleiters.
How could this happen to our police? Sadly, our political class vacillates between tired Dixon-of-Dock-Green fantasies, a childish faith in technology and vapid promises of “more bobbies on the beat”. The genial TV copper, Dixon, had no body-worn camera. Any clips around the ears he administered would end up on YouTube — quickly followed by a stiff prison sentence. Technology is either Orwellian, aimed at revenue-harvesting or — as in the West Midlands example with AI — misused. As for police numbers? A force made up of poorly-vetted, trained and inexperienced coppers is as much a hindrance as help. A widely-held view is that British police have become a Temu Stasi, operating in a climate of anarcho-tyranny.
Is this characterization entirely accurate? No, not always. Is it often too close for comfort? Absolutely. The modern British police service, though, is its master’s creature. A blue chimera, twisted by the pathologies of post-1997 Westminster. A short history of British policing since Blairite legislative and cultural tinkering of the late Nineties offers clues: the Blairites baked leftist human rights into law and procedure. This was, partly, a Blairite desire to assuage the Labour left, who never forgave the police for the Miner’s Strike. This, arguably, found its apogee in the Macpherson Report, setting the mood music for much of the cultural relativism and timidity we now see displayed by West Midlands Police. Then came another, and equally insidious, effect. By creating such a formidable cat’s cradle of legislation and governance, led by identikit civil servants and third sector activists, the Blairites salted the fields for subsequent governments. Those who followed would find reform mired in legislative knotweed. This is precisely what happened with David Cameron’s coalition government. Even worse, Cameron’s hoodie-hugging Tories were far too close to being Blairites in bowties. Comfortable with the system they inherited, the Tories forgot a conservative tenet — a government’s primary duty is the safety and protection of the public. Tory reforms, driven by post-Crash necessity, also involved deep cuts and privatisation of some hitherto police functions. Theresa May’s tenure as Home Secretary, involving deep cuts to pay and conditions, was a Year Zero moment for British policing. The poorly-trained, led and inexperienced police forces of 2026 are her legacy.
The cuts increased the sense of anarcho-tyranny many of us feel, even in our smaller cities, towns and villages. The monetisation of traffic enforcement and antisocial behaviour failed to deliver safety or justice. Speed cameras, for example, never caught a drunk driver or a stolen car. London now has only two 24-hour police counters for a population of nine million people. Shoplifters and muggers are aware timorous, stretched forces are unlikely to respond, the streets increasingly the responsibility of private security companies and local council “wardens”. Underinvestment in prisons means there’s no deterrent for recidivist behaviour. The bruise of Blairite liberalism, punched by the fist of Cameroon parsimony grew worse — the first by the relentless advance of progressive politics, the second by our ever-sluggish economy. A doom-loop, from which there was no escape.
Police funding, accountability and governance is a hot mess
Again, one detects the dead hand of Westminster. Police funding, accountability and governance is a hot mess. Take the ill-fated Tory Police and Crime Commissioner experiment, which looms large in the West Midlands Police scandal. There, a partisan PCC was the only person with the authority to dismiss the chief constable, a prerogative once enjoyed by the Home Secretary. Now, Shabana Mahmood seems likely to restore her powers, at the same time rubber-stamping long-term plans to consolidate England and Wales’s 43 police forces into 15. This is despite a similar, unsuccessful amalgamation experiment in Scotland. Meanwhile, the most coercive and powerful elements of policing, those involving terrorism and organised crime, are to be pooled into a body under national control.
Then, as rank-and-file officers know too well, there’s the gravest problem of all — Leadership. Again, the trail leads back to Westminster: there’s a reason the stereotypical top cop is portrayed as a craven, risk-averse nonentity, slavishly wedded to whatever ideas a septum-ringed activist or “community leader” whispers in their ear. Police promotion is ruthlessly micromanaged, processed-mapped by committees forged in the Blairite cauldron. They demand candidates genuflect to progressive politics, jumping through hoops to prove their commitment to The Cause. Even more ironic is the College of Policing, that great Sauron of Woke, was established by Theresa May. The College, with its vice-like grip on “best practice”, illustrates how successive governments accepted the post-1997 ideological settlement. Until such strangleholds are loosened, a reverse march through the institutions, obeisant yes-men like Chief Craig Guildford will remain overrepresented in the top ranks.
Without leadership, imagination and resources, this is the blue chimera’s fate
The problem seems intractable. Is there a solution? A settlement for policing ensuring neutrality and independence, even if it involves promoting chiefs whose views jar with Westminster’s naturally centrist instincts? Mainstream politicians, captured by Home Office orthodoxy, bridle at the kind of robust policing the average Briton would prefer. As with immigration, though, our elites seem oblivious. My concern is, one day, political patience will snap. Westminster, unable to acknowledge its role in creating the blue chimera, might instead establish a national gendarmerie. Keir Starmer suggested as much after the Southport riots, citing largely imaginary far-Right agitators. From there, who knows? Will we see, in our increasingly Balkanised cities, a dystopian future of private security companies, like those of South Africa or Latin America? Or municipal local police, Minnesota-style, facing down central government riot squads? This would be a disaster for Britain, the country responsible for the invention of modern civilian policing. Without leadership, imagination and resources, this is the blue chimera’s fate. Limping and bleeding, neither loved nor feared, towards oblivion.
This article (The blue chimera) was created and published by The Critic and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author Dominic Adler
••••
The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)
••••
Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.
••••
Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.
••••
Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Liberty Beacon Project.
Leave a Reply