Scotland Yard has been forced to admit it was “unacceptable” for one of its official Twitter accounts to apparently criticise the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
Khan criticised a tweet by an official Met account which retweeted a post pointing out that the process for sacking officers is independent of chief constables, with the comment: “Exactly this.”
Several hours after the post was deleted, a spokesperson for the Met said the tweet was “unacceptable and shouldn’t have been shared” from an official account.
In a post that has now been deleted, the Met Police Taskforce account appeared to agree with a journalist’s suggestion that Sadiq Khan “doesn’t understand” disciplinary procedures at the force.
The Taskforce replied: “Exactly this.”
They said senior officers were “addressing the matter” and would remind colleagues “they are expected to be independent and impartial at all times, on and off duty, including on social media”.
Khan said: “When you have Met police accounts amplifying information that is misleading, how is it possible for officers concerned about behaviour of other officers to come forward?
“Why are we surprised when whistleblowers don’t come forward if this is the attitude both the IOPC talked about and you’ve exemplified in relation to a blue-ticked account?”
Reactions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Related: Dr Rosena Allin-Khan’s Question Time takedown of Partygate is must watch
