UGLE and Female Masons Take Legal Action Against London Police

by Christopher Hodapp

The United Grand Lodge of England, Order of Women Freemasons, and Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons have collectively decided to launch legal action against the Metropolitan Police to address what they consider to be an unlawful, discriminatory, and unfair move in requiring all officers to declare their private Masonic membership, whether past or present. (These developments were reported HERE and HERE last week.) They have just filed a request for judicial review in the High Court.

The following statement from UGLE, OWF & HFAF has been shared with the media and was circulated very early this morning (Eastern Time). They have also issued a companion video explaining their objections (click above for YouTube):

FREEMASONS LAUNCH LEGAL ACTION 

AGAINST METROPOLITAN POLICE

The United Grand Lodge of England (“UGLE”), also acting on behalf of The Order of Women Freemasons and the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons (all of which together represent Freemasonry in England, Wales, The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) announces that it has sent a letter before claim in respect of judicial review proceedings against the Metropolitan Police (the “Met”) in response to the Met’s announcement on 11 December 2025 that it has added Freemasonry to its list of declarable associations.

The result of the Met’s new decision is that police officers and police staff who are, or have been, Freemasons will be compelled to inform the Met of their membership and that this will now be a mandatory declaration in its vetting procedures.

While acknowledging recent concerns over police vetting procedures, UGLE considers this decision to be unlawful, unfair and discriminatory against Freemasons, and considers the consultation process which has been followed by the Met to be wholly inadequate, prejudicial and unjust.

UGLE has made clear its concerns to the Met regarding any intended action to introduce a reporting requirement that has the potential to undermine public credibility of male and female Freemasons, or that could impact negatively on its members, or the contribution that they make to society. It believes that mandatory declaration breaches the fundamental rights of the organisations and their members and is also in breach of the Equality Act 2010 and UK GDPR.

Accordingly, UGLE has written to the Met setting out its intention to seek a judicial review of the decision unless its implementation is suspended immediately.

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

“Freemasonry has the highest moral and ethical standards – standards that have been a cornerstone of its identity since the earliest days of organised Freemasonry over 300 years ago. Our members embody our core values of integrity, friendship, respect and service – and this can be seen across London, the rest of the country, through tireless work within our communities to help those in need. Within individual Lodges, we enjoy the timeless traditions that make our organisation unique around the globe.

The decision by the Metropolitan Police casts an aura of mistrust over the entire Freemason community. Given the obvious, detrimental impact on our members, United Grand Lodge of England, Order of Women Freemasons and Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons consider that we now have no choice but to take legal action to challenge this unlawful decision.

We do not take this decision lightly but feel that we are left with no other options, in order to defend the rights of those in our membership, both male and female, present and past, that serve the people of London loyally in any capacity under the banner of the Metropolitan Police.”

Openness of UGLE and Freemasonry

United Grand Lodge of England, Order of Women Freemasons and Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons are aware of misconceptions regarding Freemasonry stretching back over a number of decades. In response to this, over the last 30 years, UGLE has carried out significant work to address these misconceptions, bringing public perceptions up to date through increased openness and disclosure about its values and its work in society and for charity.

The success of this work has been borne out by its increased popularity in recent years, especially in attracting younger members, and the number of visitors we have each day to our building in Covent Garden.

The consultation process followed by the Met

Since the consultation was published on the Met website on 29 September 2025 under the title, “Consultation on Freemasonry becoming a declarable association”, UGLE has sought to communicate its position to the Met during two in-person meetings with Commander Simon Messinger and in correspondence with the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley. UGLE considers the level of engagement from the Met and the limited justification it has put forward for the decision to be wholly inadequate.

UGLE has made it clear throughout that it has been willing to engage with the consultation, but it was never given the information to enable it to do so meaningfully and fairly.

UGLE is, therefore, extremely disappointed that the Met has reached this decision without a fair consultation process, or any direct engagement with it, or proper notice, on the reasons for this decision. The Met’s failure properly to consult and to publish this new requirement with immediate effect is particularly troubling in circumstances where the Met had agreed to consult fully prior to making any decision and when such a decision affects the regard in which Freemasons are held. It is likewise highly unusual that the Met would not consider any alternative solutions in the knowledge that expensive legal action must follow.

Public statements from the Met since 11 December 2025

In its statement released on 11 December 2025, the Met referred to the reporting requirement being introduced for “hierarchical organisations that require members to support and protect each other” and so being added to the Met’s declarable associations policy. In that statement, the Met also stated that it had discussed the change in policy with UGLE.

UGLE considers these statements to be misleading:

•  On the Met statement that Freemasons are, “required to support and protect each other” the Met has omitted the true nature of this obligation which is importantly qualified in Freemasonry, where it is primarily a moral one, and the level of support is expected to be within one's ability and without detriment to one's own family or one's duty to the law of the land. Without this explanation, the phrase used by the Met is misleading and capable of misinterpretation. Furthermore, it disregards similar commitments made in most religions, albeit without the same additional aspect of respecting the law of the land.
• On the Met statement that “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 Met implies that effective consultation has taken place. This is not the case.

Regarding the stated evidence base for the decision:

• The Met has provided inconsistent and insufficient data - the Met says a survey sent to all c.40.000 Metropolitan Police officers and staff, but completed by less than 5% of them, is enough to justify this move. Meanwhile, the Met subsequently claimed in a radio interview on LBC with Sir Mark Rowley that two-thirds of members supported the change. This statement was not included in the Met statement of 11 December 2025.
• The Met says that internal intelligence has made this move necessary; however, this intelligence is not public and should be to enable proper public scrutiny.
• The Met says that female police officers and staff have welcomed this announcement - although there is no evidence to support this statement and no explanation being provided for the reasoning behind the decision to the thousands of female Freemasons across the country.

UGLE also believes that the use of the description, “hierarchical associations” by the Met is intended to imply a broad constituency of potentially declarable associations, while the real focus of the new policy is on Freemasons alone, and that the description used is, therefore, disingenuous.

Further, the Met states that it is addressing longstanding concerns over secrecy of any members’ organisation. However, Freemasonry is not a secret organisation, being similar to many organisations where membership is private and regulated under the GDPR legislation. Indeed, unlike most other private organizations, UGLE publishes a list of its c.4,000 most senior members, which is available for purchase from the Shop at Freemasons’ Hall, which is open to the general public daily.

Action to be taken by UGLE

In the light of the legal position, the failure of the Met consultation process, and in order to prevent damage to members, UGLE (also acting on behalf of The Order of Women Freemasons and the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons) intends to seek a judicial review of the decision in the High Court and has sent a “letter before claim” to the Met outlining the action it intends to take.

Statement from the Metropolitan Police Federation

UGLE notes the statement made by the Metropolitan Police Federation (“MPF”) on 11 December 2025 that, “forcing police officers to declare their membership in the Freemasons could violate their human rights and is an “unnecessary and wrong” policy. The MPF also questioned the timing and enforceability of the new policy, highlighting that the issue had been debated over decades.

UGLE also notes that the intention to introduce any reporting requirement in the past had always been ruled unlawful.