When will this end?

Another week, another batch of UK public sector institutions exposed for pushing radical and potentially unlawful Diversity, Equality and Inclusion policies.

It’s ongoing in the NHS, including NHS Fife’s defence against Nurse Sandie Peggy’s tribunal over men accessing women’s changing rooms. NHS Scotland seems to be offering similar questionable advice, and in England, Guy’s and St Thomas’ are also in the spotlight.

This week, it's the Police again. Senior leadership in several forces appear determined to embed Critical Race Theory into workplace culture—affecting everything from public interactions to internal HR. A whistleblower has revealed that West Yorkshire Police may be using race as a recruitment criterion, potentially crossing the line into unlawful discrimination against white applicants. The force and the Home Secretary deny this but talk in the HR world is that it’s pretty close to the line, whilst the Equality Act 2010 does allow ‘positive action’ to encourage and support the application of those with immutable characteristics, it is not a license to discriminate directly or indirectly. I wouldn’t be all all surprised if white applicants who have been rejected initiate claims against the force.

Now the police have a track record of ignoring their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and failing to understand the limits of ‘positive action’. Indeed, recent developments at Thames Valley Police suggest that some leaders are beginning to realise DEI policies have caused serious internal damage. Back in August, I reported on the Employment Tribunal they lost after three white male sergeants were passed over for promotion in favour of a female officer of Asian background. The ruling was damning: the decision-makers had no real understanding of their legal duties under the Equality Act 2010, ignored internal expert advice, and were found to be operating within an institutionally racist culture. At the time, I noted how astonishing it was that the leadership not only made such a decision but then pressed ahead to a tribunal they clearly had little chance of winning—even against their own internal advice.

Following the ruling, Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber ordered an urgent review, led by a former Assistant Chief Constable. Her findings, published this week and covered in The Telegraph, were no less scathing.

The review, by former assistant chief constable Kerrin Wilson, said it was “unfortunate” that Thames Valley was rolling out its equity training just as the employment tribunal had found the force guilty of positive discrimination.

Ms Wilson noted some officers expressed “strong feelings of frustration”.

“As white males they felt disadvantaged and ... they had the perception that unfairness was allowed for minority groups but not for majority populations,” she wrote.

Her review revealed the tribunal’s ruling had sparked a backlash within the force from white officers who felt “overlooked and undervalued”, as well as from ethnic minority officers who believed it had set back efforts to boost diversity.

Damage to reputation

It said ethnic minority staff in the force no longer wanted to participate in special schemes to improve their chances of promotion as “the damage to their reputation is greater than the opportunity they may have been afforded”.

“A number of minoritised [sic] staff have declared openly that they will not seek promotion or specialist moves in the foreseeable future as this has left them feeling that even if they did succeed in securing promotions their efforts would not be accepted by some as genuine,” it said.

“Some staff have stated that despite being in the force for many, many years they now feel that [it] has become a hostile environment and they would not advocate for the force as an employer of choice for those from a minoritised background.”

The review also said there had been a “very strong, at times bordering on aggressive” response from white officers, who wanted their bosses to be disciplined for the positive discrimination and felt “they have no support within the force”.

It warned that internal relations could turn hostile without action. “There is a tangible feeling of being overlooked which is reflected in the wider societal discourse that is emerging around the UK and so cannot be ignored,” it said.

“If this is not addressed, this may well lead to even greater divides within the force as cultural attitudes become more hostile.”

Furthermore, it then goes on to quote Rory Geoheagan, a former Police Officer and Advisor to Number 10, who doesn’t pull his punches:

“Police officers and staff deserve far better from their leaders than to be crudely categorised by skin colour and subjected to reductive, divisive ideologies.

“The independent review exposes this troubling practice, but it fails to identify or confront the underlying issue: the unthinking acceptance of critical race theory – a deeply political framework that has no place in an impartial police service.

“Police chiefs and their elected commissioners risk creating a serious, long-lasting fracture in public trust and confidence if they continue to prioritise the views of a few vocal stakeholders over their fundamental public duty to uphold the law impartially.”

The article publishes Thames Valley Police’s response:

“Our staff and officers represent a diverse group with a range of views on many issues – but it’s our shared values that bring us together to protect our communities.

“We are committed to learning from this employment tribunal and independent review to improve how we work together.

“We strive to be fair and courageous in how we serve our colleagues and the community.”

With almost comic timing, just as they were responding to the Tribunal’s findings, Thames Valley Police decided to roll out “White Privilege” training to staff—adding insult to injury. Even the report’s author, former Assistant Chief Constable Kerrin Wilson, called the timing “unfortunate.”

But none of this surprises me. Back in July, writing for the Daily Sceptic, I reported on a whistleblower leak: TVP’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training for new recruits. It was essentially a TED Talk by a radical American Critical Race Theory advocate. I said then that it was no shock the leadership had racially discriminated against white officers—because CRT not only promotes a racialised worldview, it defines “racism” in a way that clashes with UK law. According to CRT, only those with “power and privilege” can be racist, which in a white-majority society, means only white people. But the UK’s Equality Act 2010 makes clear that “race” includes colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origins—and prohibits all forms of racial discrimination, full stop.

TVP’s own inclusivity policy is supposed to reflect that law. Basic HR practice dictates that any training must align with company policy, which in turn is grounded in legal obligations. It’s risk management 101. Instead, TVP pushed ideological DEI content that bore little resemblance to its own legal framework, apparently aiming to socially engineer the force’s culture.

This raised eyebrows in HR circles, especially as many private sector organisations have already begun reigning in DEI content to ensure it’s legally sound. So, given that the Tribunal had already condemned TVP for breaching the law—and that their ideological training had been publicly exposed—it’s deeply disappointing to see them doubling down by promoting the divisive and, frankly, racist concept of “White Privilege” to their already demoralised staff.

The Telegraph Article is worth reading in its entirety https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/10/police-officers-taught-they-have-white-privilege/