Man arrested after Scotland Yard hit by new racism storm with vile texts on WhatsApp group

The Metropolitan Police face a new racism storm over toxic social media slurs by former officers — and further allegations of continuing bigotry within the force.

A whistleblowing ex-officer triggered the row by telling the BBC’s Newsnight programme that he had been part of a WhatsApp group in which former and serving officers had posted a barrage of offensive messages.

These included “extremely unpleasant” references to black politicians, jibes about the recent deadly flooding in Pakistan, the repeated use of the “P” word, memes about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex accompanied by racist language, and misogynistic exchanges.

The BBC said the material included some of the “very strongest racial slurs” and contained images that were too offensive to show.

The former officer who set up the group, Rob Lewis, has been suspended by the Home Office from his current civil service role as a result of the disclosures, which today prompted London Mayor Sadiq Khan to call for members to be “quickly identified and held to account”.

He added that any Met officer found to be responsible for such conduct “does not deserve to wear the uniform” and should be removed.

On Thursday evening Scotland Yard said: “A man aged in his 60s was arrested on suspicion of offences under the Communications Act and misconduct in a public office.”

They added that the arrest followed reporting by BBC News.

The force’s new commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has renewed his vow to root out racism and misogyny, warning that he would be “ruthless” in taking action and that the Met had been “far too weak” in the past in tackling the issues.

But the problems facing it were compounded by separate claims from an anonymous serving officer alleging that another racist image, involving pictures of black babies, had been circulating among colleagues recently. Another serving officer told the BBC that he had yet to see any substantial improvement in tackling those with inappropriate attitudes.

The latest controversy will raise fresh concerns following the shame heaped upon the Met by a succession of scandals including the racist and misogynistic conduct of some officers at Charing Cross police station and the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by the then serving officer Wayne Couzens.

It later emerged that he and other members of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, where he was serving, had been part of a WhatsApp group that had exchanged large numbers of racist and misogynistic messages over a prolonged period.

Mr Khan responded by withdrawing his support from former commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, who quit as a result, with Sir Mark appointed to take over with a mission of restoring public confidence in the Met.

Today’s revelations, however, provide new evidence of the toxic culture he has inherited and suggest that serving officers, as well as those who only relatively recently left, are still engaged in bigoted conduct.

Dave Eden, the former officer responsible for today’s disclosures, said he had been part of the WhatsApp group since its creation in 2016, but had never posted to it and had been dismayed by the messages he had seen.

“There are references to black politicians, which are extremely unpleasant,” said Mr Eden, who retired from the Met in 2010. “The entire undertone is one of racism and misogyny.”

The members of the group are understood to have been part of the same diplomatic protection unit that Couzens joined and that several left after the murder of Ms Everard exposed the extent of misconduct within it.

It was unclear today whether any other officers responsible are still serving and the Met appealed to Mr Eden to share his evidence with it.

Mr Lewis is understood to have been working for the Border Force. In a statement, the Home Office said it had suspended a member of staff and had a “zero-tolerance approach”.