In 2021, four men were charged over the infamous “car convoy” through north-west London, when drivers of vehicles draped in Palestinian flags were filmed screaming violently antisemitic obscenities statements such as “F*** the Jews, rape their daughters”. Charges were suddenly dropped against two, but when the other two then went to court the CPS announced it had no evidence to bring, so the men were found not guilty. Because a verdict was returned, any possibility of a private prosecution was ruled out.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism has found that on a number of occasions the police have done excellent work, only for the CPS to refuse to charge – despite what it and the police believed was overwhelming evidence. CAA has had to bring two private prosecutions – one of which was then taken over successfully by the CPS, while the other was taken over and then immediately dropped.
One CPS employee, who is frustrated and angry with its behaviour, explained that there are two key problems: “First, far too many CPS lawyers are simply awful. They aren’t good enough to get work anywhere else so they end up at the CPS. And they are just not up to the job.”
But, the source explained, there is a more fundamental issue: “From the top down, the CPS has been infected with ‘woke’. All you ever hear is ‘inclusivity this and diversity that.’” The source described to me how senior staff “spend most of their time finding ways to show how progressive they are rather than actually doing the job they are there for.”
One senior government source said that the CPS is “stuffed with problematic people who know how to march through institutions.” This view is widespread among ministers. Another senior minister said that it was an “open secret” that the CPS is “unreformed and in desperate need of radical surgery”.
But it is not only a government view. A Labour source said that although the party has not focused on this publicly, given Sir Keir Starmer’s former role as head of the CPS, “he of all people knows what needs to be done”.
The source said the party was considering “how to make the CPS more effective. Take that how you will.”
The police are an easy target, given how many basic mistakes they make. But in some ways their behaviour is symptomatic of a deeper problem – with the CPS itself.