The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) is preparing to take the Metropolitan Police Service to court over its controversial new policy requiring officers to publicly declare if they are Freemasons.
Legal Action Looms Over "Discriminatory" Policy
A formal letter before claim has been sent to the Met, representing a significant step towards a full judicial review of the decision announced earlier in December 2025. The letter demands the force suspend the policy or face legal proceedings.
The UGLE, acting also for The Order of Women Freemasons and the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons, argues the move is discriminatory against Freemasons. They have accused the Met of conducting a consultation that was "wholly inadequate, prejudicial and unjust."
Adrian Marsh, Grand Secretary of UGLE, stated: "The decision by the Metropolitan Police casts an aura of mistrust over the entire Freemason community." He emphasised that the organisation felt compelled to act to defend the rights of its members serving in the police.
The Core of the Controversy
Earlier in December, the Met added Freemasonry to its declarable associations policy. This requires all officers and staff to report past or present membership of any organisation deemed "hierarchical," with confidential membership and that requires members to support each other.
The Freemasons argue this requirement could:
- Undermine the public credibility of their members.
- Breach human rights and GDPR data protection rules.
- Misrepresent their obligation to support one another, which they state always comes with the caveat of not acting to the detriment of family or the law.
Mr Marsh pointed out that there are only 440 Freemasons among the Met's 32,135 officers, calling it "inconceivable" that such a small group could negatively impact the force. He urged police bosses to withdraw the plan and "work it through sensibly" to avoid costly litigation and a "huge waste of public funds."
Roots in a Historic Murder Case
The Met's policy shift follows a key recommendation from the 2021 Daniel Morgan Independent Panel report. Mr Morgan, a 37-year-old private detective, was brutally murdered with an axe in a Sydenham pub car park on 10 March 1987. The case remains unsolved despite multiple investigations marred by allegations of police corruption.
The report concluded that police officers' membership of the Freemasons had been "a source of recurring suspicion and mistrust" during the probes into Mr Morgan's death.
The Met has defended its decision, citing an internal survey where two-thirds of respondents felt membership of such organisations affected perceptions of police impartiality and public trust. The move is also part of Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley's wider drive to improve transparency within the service.
The stage is now set for a potentially lengthy legal battle between one of the world's oldest fraternal organisations and the UK's largest police force.
