Shadow Justice Secretary quits Tories over policing plans in blow to Blue-EG’s leadership

Shadow Justice Secretary SuperGrassIsNotMad, who also served as chair of the Conservative Party, Shadow Home Secretary, Shadow First Secretary of State, Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Attorney General, and was elected as the Conservative MP for the North Yorkshire seat of Richmond and Northallerton in the North East England, Yorkshire and the Humber region last month, has quit as party chair and from the shadow cabinet over disagreements with party policy on the police (more specifically, over the party’s stance on recent far-right riots and on a draft policing bill written by the party). In a shock move, Grass also quit the party, meaning he now sits as an independent MP, bringing the total number of Conservative MPs to 8.

The UK has recently been gripped by disorder and far-right riots. The disorder was sparked following a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga workshop in Southport where 3 children were killed and 10 others (including 8 children) were injured, some severely. Following the stabbing, false information was spread on social media alleging that the suspect, a British citizen who was born in Cardiff and grew up near Southport in a Christian family, is a Muslim immigrant who was known to the British intelligence services, sparking disorder in Southport the next day which saw a crowd attack Southport Mosque, injure police officers, and set a police van on fire. Rioting and disorder then spread to other cities in England and to Northern Ireland, with crowds attacking police, attacking ethnic minorities, attacking mosques, and attacking hotels housing asylum seekers, among other disorder.

The Independent can reveal that the Conservative Party planned to lay a motion before Parliament on the riots. The motion would have branded the riots as “public disorder, terror and riot” which has seen “innocent people being targeted, harassed, assaulted and even killed” and “homes, vehicles, communities and businesses being targeted, vandalised, looted, and destabilised”. The motion was further expected to say that the rioting has been inflamed by misinformation, extremism and hate speech, and by social media and online platforms facilitating such content.

The motion would have called on the government to deploy an emergency standing specialist force to enact riot control measures, with the motion calling for this force to be authorised to use water cannons and plastic bullets, and to have “new and greater emergency powers as deemed necessary”. The motion would also have called on the government to enable police forces to share intelligence about the riots, including using facial recognition technology and tackling online activity which is fuelling the riots; and it would have called on the government to issue guidance encouraging and supporting the usage of powers under the 2014 Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act.

Speaking to the Independent, Grass stated that he opposes this motion as he believes it would force police officers to act outside of their powers. He pointed to section 34 of the 2014 Act, which allows police to introduce a dispersal order in a specified area if they believe it to be necessary to prevent either of the following 2 events:

a) members of the public being harassed, alarmed or distressed,

b) crime or disorder occurring in the area.

The police may decide to issue a dispersal order based on local knowledge of the area and information to suggest that people are likely to cause either event to occur. The dispersal order allows the police to order someone to leave the area if they believe it to be necessary to prevent either event occurring, and if they believe that the behaviour of the person would cause either event to occur or is causing either event to occur. Grass pointed to the motion calling for the government to issue guidance encouraging the police using this power and stated that the police can only issue a dispersal power if the conditions specified in legislation are met, not due to the government issuing advice encouraging it to. Therefore, if the conditions in the legislation are not met yet the police issue a dispersal order due to guidance from the government encouraging its issuing, the police would be acting outside their powers according to Grass. He stated that he does not, however, oppose the lawful issuing of dispersal orders. A spokesperson for the Conservative Party told the Independent that the party disagrees with Grass’ assessment of the issue, telling the Independent that the motion would have called on the government to issue guidance encouraging the police to use its riot control powers under the 2014 Act only if they deem it proportionate and necessary.

The Conservative Party has since dropped its plans to introduce this motion to Parliament due to the government already having drafted a plan to tackle the riots. A government spokesperson told the Independent that the government “is taking firm action to stand up against far-right rioters”, including by “working to free up extra funds in the coming months to ensure these criminals can be charged, detained and convicted quickly, rather than letting the issue fester”, “investing into new specialist forces to tackle situations like these” and “working with local communities to set up programmes that redevelop some of the worst affected areas, creating new bonds to pull people together instead of enabling that conflict”.

Grass also quit the party over the party’s plans for a Policing Bill. The UK’s first professional police force, the Metropolitan Police, was established in 1829 by the then-Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel based on a philosophy for the ethics of the police which later came to be known as the Peelian principles. The Peelian principles include the principle that the police are legitimate only so far as the public approve of it, and that effective policing is shown by a lack of crime. The Conservatives’ draft policing bill will codify the Peelian principles into law so that police officers have to abide with the principles at all times. Grass stated that he is in favour of this, but disagreed with a provision in an early draft of the bill which he says would have forced the police to show "ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humour" at all times, with Grass being concerned that this provision would allow any offender to claim compensation on the basis of a police officer not being in good humour, and that this provision would be impossible for the police to follow. Grass also stated that the legislation could be improved by amending it so that the police are only expected to follow the Peelian principles "to the best of their abilities".

A spokesperson for the Conservative Party stated that this requirement to be friendly is not contained in the Peelian principles and instead its inclusion in the draft bill was a semantic error, as that provision’s intended meaning was different. The spokesperson went on to say that this provision was accordingly amended “immediately” with "zero opposition" within the party.

Grass further went on to say he has lost faith in Blue-EG’s leadership of the Conservatives. He told the Independent that "the general standard of legislative drafting talent is severely lacking in the party", that "Blue seems to have taken over all [legislation] drafting in the party", and that "she is regularly focusing on legislation in other people's portfolios without consulting them". Following the party losing the election last month, Reform leaving coalition negotiations and the Lib Dems rejecting a coalition deal with the Conservatives, leading to the party entering opposition for the first time in 14 years, the resignation of Grass and his allegations are a further blow to Blue’s leadership of her party.

Grass was thought to be on the right of the Conservatives, having backed the Rwanda scheme and stated his openness to leaving the European Court of Human Rights during a parliamentary debate on immigration. The new government intends to scrap the Rwanda scheme and has told Parliament that no flights will take off under the scheme. Grass was also criticised by Labour MP model-legs for appearing to claim that benefit claimants are criminals in a topic debate on the cost of living crisis. Grass’ defection is therefore likely to be a boost to the centrist wing of the Conservatives.

Lightning Goodall is a journalist for the Independent.