The leaked texts from Matt Hancock, if true, have revealed a total lack of respect for the police at the very heart of a government that clearly found it acceptable to use derogatory language and negative stereotyping when talking about policing.

During the pandemic my colleagues were faced with legislative and legal changes on a weekly basis. They were expected to deal with protest and disorder at the height of Covid-19, yet were not prioritised for the vaccination, like other frontline workers. They faced abuse, assault and were spat at by people who said they had Covid – literally putting their lives and the lives of their families on the line. So, to discover that then Government ministers referred to them as ‘plod’ who ‘got their marching orders’ is an absolute disgrace.