In March 1997 The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee reported on the results of an investigation into Freemasonry in the Police and the Judiciacry. The Chairman of the committee was a Chris Mullin - a fanatical anti-mason. He was of the Jacko ilk. Masons were, supposedly, engaged in a conspiracy to hide any wrongdoing by Freemasons, even to the extent that Judges would exonerate criminals who, it was alleged by Mr Mullin, would make secret signs from the dock. He also believed that policemen who were Freemasons failed to take appropriate action against their Brother Masons who had committed crimes.
The investigation ran from 1996-97 and evidence was taken from a wide range of people from the Lord Chancellor, the Magistrate's Association, the Association of Chief Police Officers, individual members of the Judiciary, the Bar Council, the Crown Prosecution Service and from Leading Freemasons.
One of the other members of the Committee was The Right Honourable Baroness Knight of Collingtree DBE. Although not a Freemason (being a Lady) and not connected with any masons, she managed to retain a balanced view of the enquiry. In an article written by her on the subject she comments:
"As the committee proceedings ground on I became more, not less, convinced that we were on a wild goose chase. The allegations against the Freemasons appeared to based on perception, not fact."
When you review any accusations againgst the Freemasons (just look at this thread) it comes down to perception. Jacko is now keen to portray himself as a serious journalist [re-read your first comments on this thread Jacko!] but still will not attempt to produce any genuine evidence. "A friend of mine could tell you some real stories".
Actually, I would be amazed if he didn't come up with a least some facts. There are probably getting on for a million living (not neccessarily practicing) Freemasons in the UK. Human nature being what it is, I would be very surprised if a few of them were not unsavoury characters who had abused their membership of the craft.
The fact of the matter is that any Freemason worth the name would not. And, thankfully, they are in the vast majority.
The investigation led by Mr Mullin was totally inconclusive. His accusations were not bourne out and the result was a rather wishy-washy statement that members of the Police and Judiciary should register their membership of the society.
Are there Freemasons abusing the promotion system in the Service? It's not beyond the realms of possibility, but no more so than any other method of networking.
The Rugby Clubs and Golf Clubs on every station have far more members than the Freemasons. It is much more likely that preferential reporting occurs between members of the these clubs. Does anyone cry conspiracy when one rugby player reports on another?! [They probably will now?!!]
Short of writing "I am a Freemason, please promote me!" on the front cover of your annual report, how is the board meant to know that you are a mason? Surely every Promotion Board is bound to contain members who play golf or rugby? Will they not be prejudice towards on of their own? It's written in the narrative if you represent the station for any sports.
Oh my God, we have a sporting fraternity that promotes it's own!! Jehovah!
Just because you know that one golfer is being written up by another golfer - what can you do? Nothing. Why? Because it doesn't actually matter.
" It's the Freemasons" is just another lame excuse for lack of achievement. There are probably at least ten better reasons why one person gets promoted over another - the biggest one is usually "right time, right place"!
Incidentally, Mr Mullin went on to ensure that the West Midlands Police were forced to register as Freemasons. It was, of course, Mr Chris Mullin who also campaigned and eventually obtained freedom for the men imprisioned for the Birmingham Pub bombings on the grounds that the verdicts were 'unsafe'. They were given their freedom due to Mr Mullin who has stated that he knows the names of the 'real' bombers but has steadfastly refused to divulge that information.
It is a sad irony that men like Chris Mullin, who will not disclose the names of guilty murderers, should be instrumental in bringing the full weight and power of Parliament to demand the names of innocent policemen for the 'crime' of being a Freemason.
It is all to easy to let the perception get in the way of fact. Freemasonry will only cause disparate loyalties in people that would have found any number of excuses to look after each other. If any of these people join the masons, they usually leave in dissapointment.
Let's try and be a bit more balanced about this.