Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has described the arrest of a retired special constable over a tweet about antisemitism as a "national embarrassment".
Julian Foulkes, 72, from Gillingham, was arrested at his home by six Kent Police officers in November 2023 after replying to a pro-Palestinian activist on the social media platform X.
Foulkes, who volunteered with the force for a decade, had responded to a tweet from an activist who had threatened to sue Braverman for calling anti-Israel protests "hate marches".
The retired special constable had his home searched and was detained for eight hours, interviewed and cautioned following his arrest.
Suella Braverman criticised Kent Police
PAEighteen months after the incident on May 6, Kent Police admitted the caution was a mistake and apologised.
Foulkes is now crowdfunding to take legal action against the force with support from the Free Speech Union.
On Friday, Braverman invited Foulkes to Westminster to commend him for speaking out about his ordeal.
The former Home Secretary expressed regret that she had been unable to prevent the incident.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
She said: "The police seriously erred in this instance, and I think it's caused a national embarrassment because their overreach, their overzealous approach, is a symptom of a deeper problem within policing, which is political correctness.
"The shorthand is 'woke policing', and this is a real attack on free speech, and unfortunately, you're not the only case."
Braverman suggested that such incidents were part of a pattern where police were distracted from fighting crime.
In September 2023, she ordered an investigation into officers who were "pandering to politically correct causes" such as taking the knee at Black Lives Matter protests.
Julian Foulkes discussed his arrest with GB News
GB News
The former Home Secretary later said the arrest showed that her attempted reforms had failed.
Braverman stated: "I do think that the police have still got a major problem when it comes to being overly politicised, and chief constables are directing their rank and file officers to pursue cases which are totally unmerited and shouldn't warrant police action.
"So it has been because I wasn't able to go further, I do think the problem still exists.
"It's a very deep, deeply entrenched problem right up to the top of policing."
Braverman explained that she was "very vocal" with her intentions but the police "did not get the message".
