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The Met needs its Barack Obama. It needs a leader who can take it beyond the politics of both racism and racial grievance into the London of the 21st century. In short, it needs someone who can face down Tarique Ghaffur.
When I heard him complain yesterday that his former boss Sir Ian Blair had created a generation of "career policemen" and "serial fraudsters", I ran into that tricky question for English journalists operating under our authoritarian libel laws of whether I could reply: "That's a bit rich coming from you, Tarique."
So, let me stick to established facts. It is a matter of record that Ghaffur did not spend all his time as number three in the Met working to protect Londoners. He filled at least a few of his last hours with the force as a career litigant, marshalling allegations that Sir Ian had racially discriminated against him, rather than as a "career policeman".
It seemed a reasonable charge on first hearing. Obviously, there are racists in the police. The leaked BNP membership list showed that. Equally obviously, Sir Ian was not among them, but then we have also learned that otherwise honourable men may have hidden racial biases whose existence they barely acknowledge.
The illusion of plausibility vanished, however, when a Daily Mail investigation revealed that Ghaffur's claim was being brought by one Shahrokh Mireskandari, a convicted criminal who had served three years' probation for a telemarketing scam in California in 1991. He may not have been a "serial fraudster" but he remained a fraudster, nevertheless. In the end, all that Mireskandari could secure for his client was an out-of-court settlement of £280,000 - small change when set against the £1.2 million Ghaffur was claiming.
What struck me and, I suspect, other outsiders as we watched the spectacle was how antiquated the affair seemed. When I was young, blowhards such as Mireskandari could shout "racist" and public sector managers would fall over themselves in the rush to give them hush money.
The police are the last organisation to go into the PC phase many of the rest of us went through in the late 20th century. They are the last to realise that true liberalism does not lie in automatically accepting all allegations of discrimination as true, or even in taking them all seriously, but in treating every citizen and officer as equal regardless of colour.
Reader views (5)
Steve "he same lawyer in the past represented Ali Dizaei "
Er, that story is still running! Stay tuned for the next thrilling installemnt!
- W R Stevenson, London SE26, 10/12/2008 10:48
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I can't agree with Nick on this one. The assumptions about Barack Obama, President-elect, are the not the ones I share. As someone standing for the position of Mayor of London in 2012 I would challenge treatment of Tarique Ghaffur case. Tarique Ghaffur has been a decent senior police officer. He has had many successes on tough areas of policing. Constant attempts to assassinate his character has revealed a massive weakness in the Met and MPA on leadership on race issues. Today, we have lost the only Asian in the top management of the Met - and it did not have to happen. The victim of shoddy leadership should not be confused with 'racial grievances' politics. Tarique Ghaffur did the right thing to challenge his treatment - and the responsibility in London is to get rid of glass ceilings to make it into a modern cosmopolitan city - which I intend to do if elected Mayor.
- Atma Singh, London UK, 09/12/2008 22:01
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Nick has decided, based on Ghaffur's choice of lawyer and on the belief that Ian Blair is not racist, that Ghaffur has no claim. I don't understand why Nick has automatically assumed, based on these two rather tenuous pieces of 'evidence', that Ghaffur was not racially discriminated against. I wonder why it is that Nick does not mention any details of the case itself, but damns Ghaffur by association thanks to his lawyer.
The same lawyer in the past represented Ali Dizaei - who was correctly found innocent of the trumped-up charges brought against him.
I wonder if Nick was similarly certain, based on Mireskandari being a 'blowhard', and that Dizaei was guilty?
- Steve, london, 09/12/2008 14:56
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'They are the last to realise that true liberalism does not lie in automatically accepting all allegations of discrimination as true, or even in taking them all seriously, but in treating every citizen and officer as equal regardless of colour.'
Then we won't be getting true liberalism any time soon will we?
Too many vested interests.
- Mike Newland, London, 09/12/2008 13:23
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Excellent article!
My experience living and teaching for a few years in the UK after a lifetime in NZ, is that as a male Anglo-Saxon accustomed to living with other races and cultures, some members of the community in London are very ready to accuse people like who look similar to me of racism, where the point at issue is the complainants behaviour, not his or her colour, ethnicity or race.
Some badly-behaved teenagers in school, when their behaviour is checked, complain that they are being 'picked on' because of their race; this innate sense that they should be excused bad behaviour because of their race is, in itself, a form of racism which has been learnt and has become a conditioned response.
Learning to live alongside other ethnic and cultural groups with mutual understanding and tolerance can be a long and uncomfortable process: racism is not unique to people with pale skins.
- Kiwi Expat, London, UK, 09/12/2008 13:21
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