September 20, 2024

Labour MP Dawn Butler films herself being stopped by police in London – video

Dawn Butler #DawnButler

Labour MP Dawn Butler has accused the police of being ‘institutionally racist’ after she was stopped while driving to Sunday lunch with a friend.

The former shadow equalities minister, a strong critic of police stop-and-search tactics, said the car was being driven by her male friend, who like Butler is black, when two police cars pulled it over in east London. Officers said the vehicle was registered in North Yorkshire. After taking the car keys and checking the registration, the officers admitted there had been a mistake and apologised, Butler told the Guardian.

The Metropolitan police later said in a statement that an officer had initially entered the registration number wrongly into a computer system, and that neither the MP nor her friend were searched