National police LGBT network under investigation for blocking critics of wokery on Twitter

The national body for LGBT police officers is being investigated after blocking critics of wokery on social media.

The National Police LGBT+ Network claims to help Britain's 43 police forces “develop operational policing knowledge” on gay rights and inclusion.

But it is under fire for activism on its Twitter account, @LGBTPoliceUK, including claims of “threatening” opponents of trans ideology and backing Stonewall, the contentious charity.

Now, Fair Cop and the Bad Law Project, two groups that scrutinise police overreach, have been “blocked” by the @LGBTPoliceUK account after publicly condemning such tweets, meaning they can no longer view any of its content.

Anna Loutfi, a barrister for both groups, has submitted formal complaints to six chief constables, for forces where the Network’s senior leaders work.

The groups have threatened in letters to launch formal legal action unless @LGBTPoliceUK reverses its “unlawful action” by unblocking them.

Her letter points to the oath of attestation placing upon constables a positive obligation to uphold human rights, including Article 10 of the ECHR, and police impartiality rules.

Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, has told officers nationally to focus on tackling crime and “stop debating gender on Twitter”.

In a response on behalf of all constables involved, solicitors for the joint legal department of Staffordshire Police and West Midlands Police confirmed they are “presently liaising with the relevant officers in the Network to investigate the reasons why you and Fair Cop were blocked from the social media website you refer to”.

Before being blocked, Fair Cop had criticised multiple tweets from the Network’s account, including one declaring “we stand for Stonewall”.

Another warned “we see you, we’ve reported your comments”, to users who had “posted hateful comments” about trans people, before it was swiftly deleted following complaints.

Harry Miller, an ex-constable who leads both groups, told The Telegraph: "Individual officers and forces are showing increasing signs of 'going rogue', arbitrarily censoring and intimidating individuals or organisations for deviating from 'politically correct' speech.

“This is not Iran. We do not have a 'morality police'. Officers of the law must be aware that when they take the law into their own hands, our country shifts further away from the democratic values on which it is founded."

Ms Loutfi said: "Article 10 ECHR protects freedom of expression. When police officers restrict the activities of law-abiding individuals and groups, then they are potentially engaging Article 10.

“We need officers trained in the meaning, history and applicability of Article 10 - and we need this desperately. The Bad Law Project seeks to correct this deficit."

The Network’s co-chairs denied any investigation had been formalised and said they ”operate a zero-tolerance policy in cases where their members and social media followers may feel threatened, intimidated or harassed by comments posted online”.

"Blocking prevents users of the network's account being exposed to such content," the statement added.