Sir Hugh Orde is the most politicised senior Police Chief that I know of. His period as Chief Constable of the PSNI was distinguished, if that is the correct word, by his playing of the political game to accommodate the requirements of the “Peace Process”. For example, he hailed the admission of a convicted IRA bomber onto the controlling Policing Board as progress. Sir Hugh was doing the rounds of the BBC this morning, warning that his fellow Chief Constables might well resign if Conservative plans to bring about more accountable local policing come into being.
On a purely political point of view, I hope some of them carry out this threat since we would be well rid of several Chief Constables. But on the topic specifically of BBC bias, why was there no one invited to defend and explain the Conservative view? Why was Orde’s own heavily politicised history not examined? This item could be seen as the BBC allowing an attack on Conservative policy through the back door and one wonders if the uberCop-come-politician Orde is not simply paying back his Labour masters?