Govt wants ‘police on the streets not policing tweets’ after Linehan treated ‘like a terrorist’

A change in the law may be needed to ensure that officers prioritise serious crime over policing ‘hot button’ debates, the Health Secretary has said.

Wes Streeting made the remarks after police arrested comedian and writer Graham Linehan “on suspicion of inciting violence” against men who identify as women in posts on social media.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley admitted that his officers should not be “policing toxic culture wars debates”.

Priority policing

According to the Metropolitan Police, “officers arrested a man at Heathrow airport after he arrived on an inbound American Airlines flight”. Linehan said that he had been treated “like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal”.

Speaking to Sky News, Streeting said: “The Prime Minister and the Home Secretary have been very clear, that when it comes to the safety of our streets and our communities, we would rather see our police on the streets, rather than policing tweets.”

The police, he argued, were “enforcing laws that Parliament has passed”. He continued: “So if we haven’t got the balance right as Parliament over successive Governments, that is something we need to look at.”

‘Laughing stock’

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Sending five officers to arrest a man for a tweet isn’t policing, it’s politics.” Former Home Secretary Lord Blunkett said police had acted in a “totally inept” way over Linehan’s arrest.

In a letter to The Times newspaper, Lord Young of Acton — Director of the Free Speech Union, which is supporting Linehan — warned: “Arresting people for tweets is turning this country into an international laughing stock.”

The Times editorial observed: “being objectionable in the eyes of some is no excuse whatsoever for the deployment of state power against an individual in what is still claimed to be a free society”.

It added: “His bail condition is to refrain from tweeting — he has been gagged.”