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Asian officer loses racial bias case against Met

By John Hirst

Asian officer loses racial bias case against Met

One of the two senior Asian officers suing the Metropolitan Police for racial discrimination has lost his claim after alleging that a "golden circle" of white officers had been chosen to run Britain's largest force.

Commander Shabir Hussain, 45, who is one of the highest-ranked ethnic minority officers in the country, brought an employment tribunal case alleging he had been repeatedly overlooked for promotion by Sir Ian Blair, the Met's commissioner, because "my face did not fit and did not fit because I am not white".

There appears to be a legitimate expectation amongst ethic minorities that they will be promoted to meet a quota, in the same way that political parties take on board women and ethnics to show that they are in keeping with the march for diversity. There may well be a closing of the ranks at the top to keep blacks out. I suppose it is a danger of positive discrimination that when an ethnic minority does not get what he or she feels is their entitlement that they will cry out that they have been the subject of negative discrimination. This case highlights that it is simply not a case of because an ethnic minority feels that there has been discrimination it is case proved. I now await the outcome of Mr Ghaffur's claim against Sir Ian Blair and the Met for race discrimination.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on September 02, 2008 (boomark / email).