BBC Host Calls Out Suella Braverman’s Criticism Of Met Police Chief: ‘But You Haven’t Seen The Whole Video’

BBC Today host Mishal Husain cut off former Home Secretary Suella Braverman as she called for Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to resign after she admitted not having watched the footage of the incident.

The filmed confrontation between officers and chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) Gideon Falter at a pro-Palestine march in London on Saturday appears to show a Met officer describing Falter as “openly Jewish” and suggesting he alter his path to avoid the march. The Met then released a statement of apology.

Braverman, however, found herself under pressure from Husain for arguing that the video was evidence of the police’s failure to protect Jewish citizens from potential antisemitic threats.

Husain said: “Can I ask, have you seen the whole video involving Gideon Falter?”

Braverman admitted she had seen “clips” of the incident but that her stance was a broader argument against “what has happened over the last six months” in allowing marches to take place. She accused the Met Police of having “picked a side.”

Husain pointed out that Sky News published the whole 13-minute clip of the interaction on Monday, where the officer involved offers to lead Falter out “in a different direction” to help him get past the demonstrators before accusing Falter of being “disingenuous in seeking to antagonise the marches.”

“I wonder if that changes your position at all, because police officers do have a duty, don’t they, to keep the peace which is the conclusion that many come to after watching the full footage,” the presenter asked.

Braverman responded: “Well, my complaint is not against the individual police officers. They are all working really hard in really difficult circumstances. My complaint is the wholesale failure to combat anti-Semitism and to maintain the peace on the streets of London over the last six months.”

Husain asked: “It was this incident, wasn’t it, that sparked your call for the Metropolitan Police Chief to resign or be sacked?”

Braverman said: “This incident shines a light on what has been happening.”

Husain pressed: “But you haven’t seen the video of the whole incident?”

The MP replied: “What the video shows and what the incident demonstrates is that the police have failed to strike the right balance of competing rights. Now, I support the right to peaceful protest, but if the police themselves, and this is what the video shows, consider that there is a risk of anti-semitic attacks on a Jewish person… if they consider that threat to exist, what they’ve chosen to do, and this is where I believe they’ve gone wrong in the strategy and the leadership, they’ve chosen to say to the innocent Jewish person that that person must give up their rights and they’ll be arrested if they don’t.”

The host interrupted: “I suggest that you should perhaps watch the whole video before deciding exactly what you think the risks were.”

Braverman spoke up to continue:: “This is really important that I have a chance to say this because this is a really important issue. That cannot be the right approach to handling this problem. The right approach, if the police consider there to be an anti-Semitic threat, which is clear from the video and clear from all of these marches, is that the police must confront that threat directly head on… The video clearly does not show that.”

“You haven’t seen the whole video,” Husain replied.

“I have seen enough of the video,” Braverman said.

Husain pushed back: “How do you know, you haven’t seen the whole video?”

“Excuse me Mishal, if I could finish a sentence that might help,” Braverman replied.

Husain said: “You said at the beginning that you haven’t seen the whole video so I suggest the views you are drawing and the conclusions you are taking from seeing a segment of it when the whole of it is available for you to watch are… I mean, you’re basing what you’re saying on incomplete information.”

Braverman replied, saying that she based her assertion on six months of experience working with the Met Police commissioner: “And at this point in time, there is unprecedented anti-Semitism on our streets. There is disproportionate police resourcing being deployed to police these marches. And the police have chosen a side.”

Husain said: “You just want them banned.”

Braverman added: “I want marches banned which are posing a disproportionate risk of serious disorder or unmanageable resource.”

Husain countered, arguing that there had only been a small number of arrests at the marches and that there was a large Jewish bloc among the Gaza protestors.

The former Home Secretary, who was fired from the cabinet by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in November days after writing a Times op-ed accused the Met Police’s of bias when it came to pro-Palestine marches, asked: “If this march was peaceful, why was a Jewish man not able to cross the street peacefully?”

Husain continued to push back on Braverman: “You’re basing what you’re saying on incomplete information.”

The interview came to an end after Husain cut off Braverman, thanking her for her time.

Listen above on Radio 4’s Today programme.

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