Nigel Farage attacks Norfolk’s ‘woke’ policing during rally at stately home

Nigel Farage has thrown his full weight behind Norfolk’s new police and crime commissioner’s bid to clamp down on so-called “woke policing”.

The Reform leader said the diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) practices currently being rolled out by Norfolk Police “have got to go” as they are a “terrible mistake”.

Mr Farage made the remarks during a party rally at a Norfolk stately home, as fresh details emerged about the force’s DEI training.

A freedom of information request by the Telegraph revealed that Norfolk and Suffolk police currently hold more than 100 diversity resources between them.

The Reform UK leader has said current diversity training resources are a “terrible mistake” (Image: Joe Giddens)

The materials include lessons on “unconscious bias” – training aimed at addressing decision-making shaped by unrecognised prejudice – “supporting trans and non-binary people at work”, “gender and sexuality skills sessions” and “sexual orientation – what do you look for in an organisation?”.

The clampdown on the practices – which critics say are a waste of time and money and can give rise to so-called two-tier policing – has emerged as the first move made by Colin Sutton, who was elected as Reform UK’s police and crime commissioner last week.

The former Met detective has claimed his very first action as police and crime commissioner on Monday morning was to send a letter to Paul Sanford demanding a review of the practices.

And at a rally at Kimberley Hall on Tuesday, Mr Farage pulled no punches when asked his thoughts on DEI.

Farage spoke to more than 100 Reform members in Norfolk on Tuesday afternoon (Image: Henry Durand)

He said: “DEI further leads on to two-tier policing, DEI leads to a perception of total unfairness, where some groups are favoured others regardless of ability.

“And we’re old fashioned in this party, we believe in meritocracy and we also want to believe in the fair mindedness of English people.

“Your police chief will not promote someone because they’ve got an Asian background. If they think she’s good enough, she’ll get promoted.

“And we absolutely believe that’s the case, and the amount of money that’s been wasted on DEI, and the fear that it’s put into organisations like the police, is just a terrible mistake.”

Mr Sutton – who is due to meet chief constable Sanford for the first time on Thursday – doubled down on his plan to tackle DEI.

Colin Sutton has doubled down on his ambitions to tackle DEI within Norfolk Police (Image: Henry Durand)

He told the crowd of around 150 that DEI was “nonsense”.

“Why have we got police officers sitting at terminals clicking through training like that when they can’t report on a burglary or they can’t patrol your town?

“I want to know why we’re doing that, and I want to know if any other nonsense like that’s going on as well.”

Mr Sutton had earlier told the EDP: “If we are going to make policing better and more suited for the rest of Norfolk, we need to make sure of every single minute of those officer hours so we can channel them into things that need to happen.

“I want to make sure they are spending their time doing things that actually make improvements for the service they give.

“I don’t believe that the things I’ve seen so far add to that policing knowledge, so therefore I’m asking why they do that when they could be working on the street.”

A police spokeswoman said: “Police forces have a responsibility to ensure officers and staff have the knowledge, skills and tools needed to serve and protect the communities they police.

“The training referenced is part of our internal learning and development programme and is aligned to national guidance and professional standards, including those set by the College of Policing.”

She added that “not all of the items listed within the files are training packages”.