Freemasons are set to take legal action against the Metropolitan Police over its plan to force officers to declare their membership.
The bodies representing Freemasons in England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, have sent a letter before claim over the issue, in a step towards a judicial review of the force’s decision announced earlier this month.
The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) also acting on behalf of The Order of Women Freemasons and the Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons, said the move is discriminatory against Freemasons.
It also accuses the force of carrying out a consultation over the plan that was “wholly inadequate, prejudicial and unjust”.
The letter before action calls on the Met to suspend the decision to force officers to publicly declare membership, or face a judicial review.
Earlier this month the Met announced that membership of the Freemasons would be added to its declarable associations policy along with other “hierarchical organisations”.
Officers and staff are now required to declare membership “past or present” of any organisation that is “hierarchical, has confidential membership and requires members to support and protect each other”.
The United Grand Lodge said that the reporting requirement could undermine the public credibility of Freemasons, and could breach their human rights and GDPR rules.
Adrian Marsh, grand secretary of UGLE, said: “Freemasonry has the highest moral and ethical standards – standards that have been a cornerstone of its identity since the earliest days of organised Freemasonry over 300 years ago.
“The decision by the Metropolitan Police casts an aura of mistrust over the entire Freemason community.
“Given the obvious, detrimental impact on our members, United Grand Lodge of England, Order of Women Freemasons and Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons consider that we now have no choice but to take legal action to challenge this unlawful decision.
“We do not take this decision lightly but feel that we are left with no other options, in order to defend the rights of those in our membership, both male and female, present and past, that serve the people of London loyally in any capacity under the banner of the Metropolitan Police.”
Mr Marsh called on force bosses to withdraw the move and “work it through sensibly” with the Freemasons, to avoid expensive legal action.
He added: “They have the opportunity to avoid a huge waste of public funds.”
There are only 440 Freemasons among the 32,135 officers in the Met, and the grand secretary said it is “inconceivable” that this small number could have an impact on the force.
UGLE claim they were not properly included in the consultation process, that less than 5% of officers and staff completed the survey on the issue, and accused the force of refusing to consider any alternative solutions.
And it said that the requirement of Freemasons to support and protect each other comes with the caveat that this is without detriment to their family or the law of the land.
The move to make officers declare past or present membership of the freemasons was recommended by the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel report – a probe into the force’s handling of the unsolved 1987 murder of private detective Daniel Morgan.
The 37-year-old father-of-two was killed with an axe in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south-east London, on March 10 1987.
A string of inquiries over the decades unearthed allegations of corruption.
The 2021 report said police officers’ membership of the Freemasons had been “a source of recurring suspicion and mistrust in the investigations”.
The Met’s decision follows a survey of officers and staff which showed two thirds of respondents felt membership of such organisations affects perception of police impartiality and public trust, the force said.
More recently, Sir Mark Rowley has pushed the plan to declare membership as part of wider moves to improve transparency in the Met.
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