Suella Braverman: 'Too many police constables have gone woke - and it’s undermining public safety'

Braverman explained: "The police have also fallen prey to the D&I (diversity and inclusion) agenda and far too many chief constables that I came across. Not all of them.

"There are some of them. The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police was one of the good ones. But far too many police officers and chief constables have signed up to this agenda and it's undermining public safety.

"I will tell you why it's really damaging. Chief constables will sign up to this woke, politically correct virtue-signalling agenda. It actually has a pernicious effect on public safety, because the next step from that is confessing to institutional racism.

"I'm afraid too many chiefs signed up to that agenda as well. They believe they really believe that they are institutionally racist.

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"They're not that that is to smear really brave, dedicated, patriotic, hardworking policemen and women all throughout our country who put their safety first for the sake of our own security.

"It then leads to pulling back on things like stop and search, because they believe that that is a racist method of crime prevention when it's one of the most effective ways of saving lives on our streets and cutting knife crime.

"And so, you know, people are dying. Public safety is falling because of this agenda.

"That starts with certain police chiefs signing up to a very harmful and wrongheaded."

A row broke out last year over the influence of politicians on the police after Braverman and Rishi Sunak were involved in a stand-off with Britain's most senior officer over whether to ban pro-Palestinian protests in London on Remembrance weekend.

Speaking last year Martin Hewitt, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said: "If we are accused of being woke when taking action that we know is effective in building trust with people where that increased trust is needed, we must stand tall, champion and defend that action."

Speaking to reporters after his speech, Hewitt said: "Calling something woke is an easy one-liner that will get you a bit of a headline, and it’s great in social media, but I don’t think it’s particularly helpful."

Neil Basu, who served as head of Counter Terror Policing for three years, is the frontrunner to become Border Security Commander under the new Labour Government and has claimed he is "proud to be woke".

When asked by Channel 4 News: "Are you alert to issues of racial and social justice?"

He responded: "Yes, I am. And if that is the definition of woke, I'll wear it as a bumper sticker every day of the week."