Suella Braverman accuses Met Police of 'playing favourites' after allowing pro-Palestine march on Armistice Day

Suella Braverman has accused the Met Police of bias after the police force said that it would allow a pro-Palestine march to take place in London on Armistice Day (November 11).

The Home Secretary said that the police force was "playing favourites" by not blocking the march arranged by "pro-Palestinian mobs". She claimed that the Met Police had blocked right-wing protests in the past while allowing the pro-Palestine march to go ahead.

Writing in The Times, Braverman said: “I do not believe that these marches are merely a cry for help for Gaza. They are an assertion of primacy by certain groups — particularly Islamists — of the kind we are more used to seeing in Northern Ireland. Also disturbingly reminiscent of Ulster are the reports that some of Saturday’s march group organisers have links to terrorist groups, including Hamas.”

She added: “Right-wing and nationalist protesters who engage in aggression are rightly met with a stern response yet pro-Palestinian mobs displaying almost identical behaviour are largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law? I have spoken to serving and former police officers who have noted this double standard.

“Football fans are even more vocal about the tough way they are policed as compared to politically connected minority groups favoured by the left. It may be that senior officers are more concerned with how much flak they are likely to get than whether this perceived unfairness alienates the majority. The Government has a duty to take a broader view.”

It comes after the government put pressure on commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to cancel the march, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who previously described the Armistice Day march as "provocative", saying that he would hold the boss "accountable" for allowing the march to go ahead. Ahead of a meeting with Sir Mark on Wednesday 8 November, Sunak said: "More broadly, my view is that these marches are disrespectful and that’s what I’ll be discussing with the police commissioner later today.”

Braverman's words have angered some, with the BBC reporting that one senior Tory minister called her comments "unhinged", while another party source said that the comparison with Northern Ireland was "offensive and ignorant". Labour have also branded Braverman as "out of control", with shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper posting on X (formerly Twitter): "Her article tonight is a highly irresponsible, dangerous attempt to undermine respect for police at a sensitive time, to rip up operational independence & to inflame community tensions. No other Home Secretary of any party would ever do this."

Cooper added: "She’s deliberately seeking to stir up political division around Remembrance Day, a moment when the whole country can come together to pay our respects for sacrifices of the past. And at same time she’s deliberately undermining police ability to deal with problems she whips up."