‘Very Brexity Things’

Well, The Telegraph is outdoing itself today.

Not content with breathless commentary from the Deputy Royal Editor announcing that Meghan Markle, "as she prepares to relaunch her career" has hired an assistant who used to work for Bill Gates as her first "Chief of Staff" (the jokes almost write themselves**), the lead story tells the tale of 71-year old Julian Foulkes. A retired special constable (this means he was a volunteer in this role) from the Kent police force, Foulkes was visited in November 2023 by six of his former squad mates carrying batons and pepper spray, handcuffed at home. He then had to wait while every inch of his house was combed through, as he was required to answer questions about why he had books by Douglas Murray and copies of The Spectator on his bookshelves (items the female police officer who was pawing through them described on bodycam footage as "very Brexity things"). The invading policemen also expressed concern over a shopping list in Mr. Foulkes's kitchen, in his wife's handwriting, on which she'd indicated a need to buy "bleach, tin foil, and gloves."

Mr. Foulkes's wife is a hairdresser.

All his electronic devices were confiscated, and Mr. Foulkes had to sit and watch (uncuffed by this point, as he'd been vouched for by one of the officers who knew him from their time on the police force together) as the officers pored over, along with every other item in his home, the contents of his wife's underwear drawer (hmm), and a file of newspaper clippings about the hit-and-run death, and subsequent funeral, of his daughter Francesca, who was killed fifteen years ago while on holiday in Ibiza.

He was taken to the police station, locked up for eight hours and then questioned on suspicion of having committed malicious communication.

Fearing that having a criminal proceeding on his record might imperil his ability to visit his surviving daughter who lives in Australia, Mr. Foulkes agreed to a warning and was released.

Mr. Foulkes's "offense" followed (as did those of so many others in similar circumstances) the events of October 7, 2023. Some parts of London were quite literally on fire with pro-Palestinian riots, and on October 30, an anti-Semitic mob went on the rampage in an airport in Dagestan, Russia, hunting down any Jewish arrivals to the country.

Mr. Foulkes, whose Jewish friends had told him they no longer felt safe in London, read the comments of Suella Braverman, then the Home Secretary who described the riots and the pogroms as "hate marches," then saw a comment on Twitter (or X, maybe, by then?) by someone claiming to have been on one of the "marches," and saying that if Ms. Braverman called him an anti-Semite, he would sue her.

This is where Mr. Foulkes--a supporter of Ms. Braverman and a fierce opponent of antisemitism--responded, in a way that was at best understandable, and at worst, a bit unclear, intimating that the author of the original Tweet was "one step away from storming Heathrow looking for Jewish arrivals..."

On November 1, 2023, his tweet was referred to Kent police due to "concerns around online content." The tweet was not reported by a member of the public. A specialist police unit (which should have been investigating actual terrorism) apparently flagged it and initiated the entire process. The tweet had been viewed twenty-six times. I wonder how many of those times were by this counterterrorism unit....

Last week (eighteen months later), Kent Police acknowledged that they had made a mistake, and all mention of the incident was deleted from Mr. Foulkes's record. (Which should mean he doesn't have a "record" anymore. I hope that's the case.):

On Saturday, a Kent Police spokesman told The Telegraph the force had “concluded that the caution against Mr Foulkes was not appropriate in the circumstances and should not have been issued”.

The spokesman said “Kent Police expunged the caution from the man’s record and was pleased to facilitate this correction”, adding that a further review of the matter would now be carried out “to identify any learning opportunities”.

Meanwhile, Mr. Foulkes remains devastated:

"It was just so wrong – and especially painful because I’d spent 10 years working with these people for no remuneration. I did it because I believed in it and enjoyed it. I left with a certificate from the chief constable, thanking me for my service. Now, all those memories feel trashed."

And

Mr Foulkes warned about what he sees as an escalating attack on freedom of expression, saying: “I saw Starmer in the White House telling Trump we’ve had [freedom of expression] in the UK for a very long time, and I thought, ‘Yeah, right.’ We can see what’s really going on."

As dire as things sometimes seem in these United States, and no matter who's nominally in charge, I'm glad I'm living on this side of The Pond. Otherwise, as I've told my family many times, I'd be the lead story on the 11 o'clock news every night.

The only response a Home Office spokesman could muster this week, when asked to comment on the unforgivable mess described above was, "This incident occurred under the previous government."

And there was I, thinking we'd just have to make do with Meghan Markle for comic relief.

**Let's see, Meghan's career: D-list actress, social media influencer, princess, global ambassador, author, podcast superstar, domestic goddess, movie producer...I wonder what is next.

I know that Ray Kroc had six or seven failed business ventures before he finally bought a family-owned burger restaurant in San Bernardino, CA, kept the restaurant's family name, and launched McDonald's into the stratosphere. I fear that Meghan is not in his league, although she does seem to be trying to break his record.