Kemi Badenoch will tell frontline police officers that "people in this country are becoming too scared to wade in, too scared to do the right thing" amid a litany of legal battles. The Tory leader will address the Police Federation annual conference in London on Thursday.
Sergeant Blake's case cited as 'open and shut'
Mrs Badenoch is expected to point towards the case of Sergeant Martyn Blake, who fatally shot gangster Chris Kaba after he drove at armed officers in an attempt to smash his way out of a roadblock. The senior politician will tell the conference that Sgt Blake's case "should have been open and shut".
Mrs Badenoch will say: "I know that you make difficult decisions every single day. Sometimes you have seconds to decide, in dangerous situations that most of us will never have to experience. You have to be able to trust that those decisions will be judged fairly."
Officers face years of uncertainty
She will add: "Sergeant Martyn Blake's case should have been open and shut. He should have been straight back to work after a brief investigation. Instead, his career was put on hold, his name dragged through the mud, and his family put under enormous strain. And he still has an inquest hanging over him."
Sgt Blake was cleared of murdering Kaba, a convicted gun criminal, in October 2024. But he faced the sack until this summer as the police watchdog assessed whether he had committed disciplinary offences. Those hearings face a civil test, rather than the criminal burden of proof.
Kaba's criminal background
Kaba was a core member of the 67 gang, one of London's most violent and dangerous organised crime groups, which had been linked to a string of shootings in the capital. Just a week before he died, the 24-year-old rapper, who had previously served a prison sentence for gun offences, was caught on CCTV gunning down a rival in a packed nightclub in east London.
Prosecutors suggested Sgt Blake had acted out of "fear, anger or frustration", but the jury accepted his explanation that he had followed his training to the letter and had fired because he genuinely believed the lives of his colleagues were in danger.
Badenoch vows to back police
Mrs Badenoch will tell the Police Federation: "In recent years we have too often failed to recognise sacrifice and service. Whether it's hounding our brave veterans through the courts; or hounding police officers who tried to do the right thing through tribunals; or hounding ordinary members of the public who step in to help only to find themselves in trouble themselves."
She will add: "It's no wonder that people in this country are becoming too scared to wade in, too scared to do the right thing. I am different. I am not scared to wade in, and I am not scared to back the police. You are the ones who enforce the law. You are the ones who ensure there are consequences for bad behaviour."
The Tories want police officers to have a "zero tolerance" approach to crime. Mrs Badenoch is signalling that the Conservatives, if they win the next election, will back officers amid a litany of legal claims.
She will say: "The job of a police officer is to catch criminals and keep our streets safe. That is what the public expects. And it is also why people join the police. I know that in recent years your job has been made harder."
She will also reference PC Andrew Harper's colleagues, who were told his killers were going to be released early from prison, and PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, who lost their lives because violence and thuggery had spiralled out of control in Cleveland. "We have to fix these problems and I have a plan. Part of it means backing you to do your jobs and stopping the activities that waste your time," she will conclude.
