London's Metropolitan Police Demand Masonic Membership Declarations – One More Time

by Christopher Hodapp

Here we go again. London's Metropolitan Police (MET) have officially decided to force all police officers to declare their Masonic membership – whether past or present – in spite of ongoing protests from the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE). We've seen this program before and the rerun isn't any better. This has been an on-again, off-again situation in England ever since the 1990s, in spite of the fact that there has never been a shred of evidence that police officers, lawyers or judges have given preferential treatment or done favors for Brother Masons.

From today's announcement:

Hierarchical organisations added to declarable association policy

Hierarchical organisations that require members to support and protect each other have been added to the Met’s declarable associations policy.

Freemasonry has been formally included, and other organisations will be added as and when information indicates they need to be.

The move follows a consultation of officers and staff which showed two thirds of those who responded felt membership of such organisations affects perception of police impartiality and public trust.

Commander Simon Messinger, Professionalism, said: “Successive leaders of the Met have considered for many years whether we need to amend our declarable association policy, particularly in relation to Freemasonry.

“After such conclusive results from our consultation, we have decided now is the right time to address long-standing concerns and that public and staff confidence must take precedence over the secrecy of any membership organisation.

“Our decision does not mean any member of staff cannot join the Freemasons or another similar organisation.

“But we have acted on feedback that involvement in these types of organisations could call impartiality into question or give rise to conflict of loyalties.

“Strengthening the trust both our own staff and London’s communities have in the Met is a core part of our New Met for London plan and ambitions.” 

Officers and staff already have to declare any association with an individual, group or organisation that might compromise their integrity, pose a risk to operations or intelligence or that could damage the reputation of the Met and, as a result, public confidence. Doing so allows for risks to be assessed, managed and mitigated.  

Until now there have been only a few specific examples of declarable associations set out in the policy. These include people with criminal convictions, those who have been dismissed from policing, and lawful professions such as private investigation or journalism.  

In 2021, the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel recommended that officers and staff should be required to declare membership of organisations, including the Freemasons, that could present a potential conflict of interest. Similar recommendations have been made at various points in the past.  

The Met had been of the view that the existing policy on declarable associations was sufficient. However, we continued to receive intelligence reports and general expressions of concern from officers and staff worried about the impact, whether real or perceived, membership of such an organisation could be having on investigations, promotions and misconduct. The number of such reports has been relatively low, but they must be taken seriously. 

From Thursday, 11 December, officers and staff are required to declare a membership, past or present, of any potentially influential organisation that is hierarchical, has confidential membership and requires members to support and protect each other. Freemasonry is named as one of those organisations that must be declared, and if we have intelligence about other organisations in the future they may also be specifically added.

Senior officers have discussed the results of the staff consultation and our decision with the United Grand Lodge of England which is the headquarters of Freemasonry in England and Wales, as well as the Police Federation and other representative bodies.

The complete text can be found HERE. 

Reported cases are "relatively low." No evidence, no actual cited cases, only perception. That perception in the public consciousness has been driven by negative press reporting for more than 35 years, most of which originated in paranoiac anti-Masonic works like Stephen Knight's execrable The Brotherhood in 1984. Knight put forth his addled belief in a vast, secret network of secret Freemasons secretly secreted within police forces, courtrooms, law firms, and the prison system who secretly conspire to secretly commit crimes, hide their own transgressions, pardon criminals, and promote each other by giving each other secret signs, dodgy handshakes, and hopping about with rolled up trouser legs. Ever since his completely unsupported nonsense was published, nearly every time there's a situation involving possible police misconduct in England, someone will doubtless pop off with the accusation, "The bloody Freemasons in the police are to blame!"

Knight's absurd waste of pulp set in motion conspiracy theories alleging everything from a Masonic Jack the Ripper (as dramatized in the movies Murder By Decree and From Hell), to the sinking of the Titanic (yes, really). There was an alleged police cover-up regarding a 1989 football stadium riot in Hillsborough (it took 27 years of investigating Hillsborough before several commissions finally gave up on finding ANY Masonic connection to the stampede and death of 96 people). There have also been countless unfounded claims over the decades that Masons have only promoted Brother Masons within the ranks of police departments all over the country. Time after time it's found simply that these cases are brought by disgruntled employees over being passed over for advancement. 

Most of the news stories today have been certain to mention an unsolved murder case from 40 years ago. Daniel Morgan, a private investigator who was looking into police corruption at the MET, was axe murdered in 1987, just three years after the release of Stephen Knight's fairy tale book. Rumors at the time began gaining traction that Morgan had gotten 'too close to the truth' about nefarious activities in the police and was done in by – you guessed it - Freemason cops. The case was never solved; no Masons or cops were accused; and even a new commission report in 2021 didn't say that Masons actually had anything to do with it. They did, however, come to the following meaningless conclusion: that police officers' involvement with the Freemasons had been a "source of recurring suspicion and mistrust in the investigations." They didn't obstruct, they didn't actually do anything at all. It was merely others' perceptions of what the Freemasons may have been up to. And those perceptions were shaped and percolated by Knight's sensationalistic claims, all of which were unfounded, but were breathlessly splashed across both the mainstream press and the tabloids at the time.

In fact, I'll bet a groat that this latest burst of "Bloody Masons In The Police!" mania was stirred up by J.K.Rowling's recent mystery novel, written under the pen name of 'Robert Galbraith,' entitled The Hallmarked Man. Rowling aka Galbraith wrote a tedious, plodding, dull-as-dirt,  900-page (not a misprint) doorstop novel that culminates with crooked cops who are SURPRISE! Freemasons. She managed to write a book about the Masons that's both longer and more boring than Pike's Morals & Dogma. (Don't get fooled by the appearance of London's Freemasons Hall on the cover. If I ever finally make it to the end of the damn thing, I'll review it here. But please don't waste your hard-earned cash on it just because it's "about the Masons." You'll only get mad.)

Apparently, the MET's line, "Senior officers have discussed the results of the staff consultation and our decision with the United Grand Lodge of England which is the headquarters of Freemasonry in England and Wales" is utter crap. Or if not utter crap, it's certainly news to the UGLE.

The UGLE quickly responded to today's announcement with the following statement:

The United Grand Lodge of England (“UGLE”), the home of Freemasonry in England, Wales and the Channel Islands, notes today’s announcement by the Metropolitan Police that it will now require mandatory declaration of membership of Freemasonry as a declarable association, meaning that male and female officers and staff who are Freemasons will be compelled to inform the Met of this.

Whilst aware of recent concerns over police vetting procedures, UGLE considers this policy decision to be unlawful, disproportionate, unfair and discriminatory.

UGLE has endeavoured to engage constructively and openly with the Met on this matter over recent weeks and is most disappointed that it has reached this decision without a genuine dialogue or any direct engagement with UGLE on the substantive reasons which affect the integrity and the positive regard in which our members are held.

Commenting on behalf of the United Grand Lodge of England, the Order of Women Freemasons and the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons, Adrian Marsh said:

“We are disappointed that a decision which potentially affects our members has been taken without open or effective consultation. Our values of Integrity, Friendship, Respect and Service are paramount in Freemasonry and have never been of more importance. We see this action as unwarranted, and we are carefully considering an appropriate response. We will issue a further statement in due course.”

What's truly enraging about this latest go round is that press accounts are gleefully repeating that previously, MET officers were only required to declare any association with an individual or group that might compromise their integrity or damage the reputation of the force. That included associating with people with criminal convictions, those dismissed from policing and those working in lawful professions such as private investigation or journalism. This new policy singles out the Freemasons alone as being in any way comparable to associating with those criminals or fired cops.

The problem has ALWAYS been that anti-Masonic prejudices and open hatreds are so widespread throughout the UK and Europe. Once employees of ANY profession are required to openly declare their Masonic membership, they are opening themselves up to retribution and risking their jobs. Anti-Masons will use their membership as an excuse to allege misconduct of all kinds. Criminals will accuse Masonic cops of no end of imaginary conspiracies. Non-Masonic officers will accuse Masonic supervisors of favoritism and prejudice. It's happened countless times in the past. When you see the comments following news stories about the Masons in the English papers, it's almost a given that at least one anonymous commenter will pipe up with, "My old man was passed over for a pay rise because of the bloody Masons!" Now the MET has made it even simpler to make unfounded claims against fellow officers, based solely on their Masonic membership.

When rules were passed in both the U.K. and Italy in the early 2000s requiring members of law enforcement and the judiciary to disclose their Masonic membership, they were struck down by the European Court of Human Rights as discriminatory. Apparently the MET has a short institutional memory. With all of the civil unrest going in across the U.K. these days, it's unfathomable why the MET is wasting its resources hunting Masonic boogymen under the bedclothes. It will be curious to see what the UGLE's next move will be to protect its members.