Speech Police: Top Cop Warns Pro-Brexit Politicians Not to ‘Inflame People’s Views’

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Oliver JJ Lane

One of Britain’s top cops has warned prominent pro-Brexit figures to watch their language, claiming that if they fail to do so they could “inflame” an already “incredibly febrile atmosphere”.

In just the latest example of Britain’s police forces taking to their newly discovered role of the guardians of speech with enthusiasm, a senior officer said of public discussion of Brexit: “This is highly emotive … I think there is a responsibility on those individuals that have a platform, and have a voice, to communicate in a way that is temperate and is not in any way going to inflame people’s views or cause any actions out of there.”

“I think we are in an incredibly febrile atmosphere. There is a lot of angry talk that you can pick up if you look across social media.”

National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) boss Martin Hewitt appeared to imply the nation is on the verge of violent disorder with his warning that public figures should “think carefully” before speaking at the same time as other headline-grabbing statements were issues by police, including an announcement that they have prepared a 10,000-man strong rapid reaction force to deal with riots.

The officers are needed, The Guardian reports, because of the supposed possibility of food riots and looting after Brexit — despite several key stakeholders having confirmed repeatedly that they are ready for Brexit, whatever happens.

This includes senior figures in the shipping industry reassuring the public that trade would keep flowing over the English Channel, and the remarkable revelations made by a senior civil servant whistleblower that the true extent of no-deal preparations had never been revealed to the public to help push voters into accepting Theresa May’s deal.

That lack of communication may even extend to inside the Government: former Brexit minister Chris Heaton-Harris resigned from Theresa May’s government yesterday with a parting letter revealing that Cabinet Office bureaucrats may have hidden the work his department had been doing to make the country ready for any Brexit eventuality from even the Prime Minister herself.

Police spokesman Charlie Hall said the force preparations — and potentially alarming accompanying press releases about police preparing for riots — came despite them having no intelligence about any potential disorder and were merely preparing for a hypothetical worst-case scenario.

In January, police “war gamed” controlling serious congestion in Kent, anticipating potential delays at the Port of Dover for ferries and trains to and from Europe. While this gained significant media attention at the time as an unprecedented development because of Brexit, the operation appeared to be a variant of Kent Police’s Operation Stack, which was activated dozens of times in 2015, while Britain was still firmly embedded in the European Union.

Traffic was heavily congested when industrial action and illegal migrants congregating at the Port of Calais effectively halted the flow of ships and Eurotunnel freight trains to England. The delays were so bad the British government even drew up plans to deploy the Army to help control traffic in the south of England.

Despite the serious and ongoing disruption through the Summer of 2015 due to disorder on the French side of the Channel, there were no food riots reported in the United Kingdom.

Oliver JJ Lane is the editor of Breitbart London — Follow him on Twitter and Facebook

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