London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Dec 19, 2025

Labour MP says racism led to police car stop

Labour MP says racism led to police car stop

A Labour MP has accused police of racially profiling her after she was stopped while travelling in a car in east London.

Former shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler tweeted she had been pulled over in Hackney and had recorded the stop.

The MP for Brent Central said police had to "stop associating being black and driving a nice car with crime".

The Met said the stop was a mistake caused by an officer incorrectly entering the car's registration number.

She told the Press Association: "It's obviously racial profiling.

"We know that the police is institutionally racist and what we have to do is weed that out. We have to stop seeing black with crime. We have to stop associating being black and driving a nice car with crime."

The BMW was being driven by a male friend, who is also black, and it was pulled over by two police cars, Ms Butler said.

She said officers said the car was registered in North Yorkshire and took the car keys while checking the registration.

They then admitted there had been a mistake, that it was registered to the driver, and apologised, she said.

'Ridiculous reason to stop'


Her footage of the stop, which happened at about 12:00 BST on Sunday, showed an officer saying police were carrying out searches because of "gang and knife crime".

She is heard in the video telling the officers: "It is really quite irritating. It's like you cannot drive around and enjoy a Sunday afternoon whilst black, because you're going to be stopped by police."

She goes on to say: "If you are driving outside the area, I think that's a ridiculous reason to stop.

"If you are profiling people who are driving in a certain type of car, that's an inappropriate reason to stop, and if you are profiling people because of the colour of their skin, that's an inappropriate reason to stop."

One of the officers in the video tells her: "I appreciate everything you say and I do apologise for wasting your time."

Ch Supt Roy Smith tweeted earlier to say he had spoken to the MP who had "given me a very balanced account of the incident".

The Met Police officer added the force "are listening" to concerns she had about the police stop and the officers involved, and she was "quite entitled to raise them".



Last month the Met apologised after stopping and searching Team GB athletes Bianca Williams and Ricardo dos Santos



In a statement the police force said: "Prior to stopping the vehicle, an officer incorrectly entered the registration into a police computer which identified the car as registered to an address in Yorkshire.

"Upon stopping the vehicle and speaking with the driver, it quickly became apparent that the registration had been entered incorrectly and was registered to the driver in London.

"Once the mistake was realised the officer sought to explain this to the occupants; they were then allowed on their way.

"No searches were carried out on any individuals."

The force said "one of the occupants" had been contacted by a senior officer and they had discussed "subsequent interaction as well as feedback regarding the stop".

It added: "We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter further with the occupants if they wish to do so."

The statement did not explain why the registration was entered in the first place.

In the video, one officer can be heard saying the initial search returned a car of the same make, model and colour but registered to North Yorkshire.

Ms Butler questioned the officer, asking for the police to share the registration they initially searched for.

'So unsurprising'


"It's exhausting doing things whilst black," she told PA.

"Because you're just doing every day things and you have to explain yourself away or justify the reason why you're driving through Hackney. It's exhausting and I'm tired of it."

This week Ms Butler was named by Vogue magazine as one of the 25 most influential women for her support of Black Lives Matter protests.

She has previously described how her backing of the anti-racism movement had led to threats on her office and staff, and last month had to shut her headquarters for safety reasons.

Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott tweeted that Ms Butler's experience on Sunday was "so unsurprising".



Last month the Met apologised to GB sprinter Bianca Williams and her partner Ricardo dos Santos who were pulled from their car and handcuffed in front of their three-month-old son.

Nothing was found in the search and the Met referred itself to the police watchdog.

On Saturday, Ms Butler wrote in her Metro column that Met Commissioner Cressida Dick appeared "incapable" of tackling institutional racism in the police and called for her resignation.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating whether officers in England and Wales racially discriminate against ethnic minority people.

The latest official statistics for stop and search showed a disparity rate of 4.3 for all black, Asian and minority ethnic people and 9.7 for black people.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Envoy Witkoff to Convene Security Advisers from Ukraine, UK, France and Germany in Miami as Peace Efforts Intensify
UK Retailers Report Sharp Pre-Christmas Sales Decline and Weak Outlook, CBI Survey Shows
UK Government Rejects Use of Frozen Russian Assets to Fund Aid for Ukraine
UK Financial Conduct Authority Opens Formal Investigation into WH Smith After Accounting Errors
UK Issues Final Ultimatum to Roman Abramovich Over £2.5bn Chelsea Sale Funds for Ukraine
Rare Pink Fog Sweeps Across Parts of the UK as Met Office Warns of Poor Visibility
UK Police Pledge ‘More Assertive’ Enforcement to Tackle Antisemitism at Protests
UK Police Warn They Will Arrest Protesters Chanting ‘Globalise the Intifada’
Trump Files $10 Billion Defamation Lawsuit Against BBC as Broadcaster Pledges Legal Defence
UK Says U.S. Tech Deal Talks Still Active Despite Washington’s Suspension of Prosperity Pact
UK Mortgage Rules to Give Greater Flexibility to Borrowers With Irregular Incomes
UK Treasury Moves to Position Britain as Leading Global Hub for Crypto Firms
U.S. Freezes £31 Billion Tech Prosperity Deal With Britain Amid Trade Dispute
Prince Harry and Meghan’s Potential UK Return Gains New Momentum Amid Security Review and Royal Dialogue
Zelensky Opens High-Stakes Peace Talks in Berlin with Trump Envoy and European Leaders
Historical Reflections on Press Freedom Emerge Amid Debate Over Trump’s Media Policies
UK Boosts Protection for Jewish Communities After Sydney Hanukkah Attack
UK Government Declines to Comment After ICC Prosecutor Alleges Britain Threatened to Defund Court Over Israel Arrest Warrant
Apple Shutters All Retail Stores in the United Kingdom Under New National COVID-19 Lockdown
US–UK Technology Partnership Strains as Key Trade Disagreements Emerge
UK Police Confirm No Further Action Over Allegation That Andrew Asked Bodyguard to Investigate Virginia Giuffre
Giuffre Family Expresses Deep Disappointment as UK Police Decline New Inquiry Into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Claims
Transatlantic Trade Ambitions Hit a Snag as UK–US Deal Faces Emerging Challenges
Ex-ICC Prosecutor Alleges UK Threatened to Withdraw Funding Over Netanyahu Arrest Warrant Bid
UK Disciplinary Tribunal Clears Carter-Ruck Lawyer of Misconduct in OneCoin Case
‘Pink Ladies’ Emerge as Prominent Face of UK Anti-Immigration Protests
Nigel Farage Says Reform UK Has Become Britain’s Largest Party as Labour Membership Falls Sharply
Google DeepMind and UK Government Launch First Automated AI Lab to Accelerate Scientific Discovery
UK Economy Falters Ahead of Budget as Growth Contracts and Confidence Wanes
Australia Approves Increased Foreign Stake in Strategic Defence Shipbuilder
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson proclaims, “For Ukraine, surrendering their land would be a nightmare.”
Microsoft Challenges £2.1 Billion UK Cloud Licensing Lawsuit at Competition Tribunal
Fake Doctor in Uttar Pradesh Accused of Killing Woman After Performing YouTube-Based Surgery
Hackers Are Hiding Malware in Open-Source Tools and IDE Extensions
Traveling to USA? Homeland Security moving toward requiring foreign travelers to share social media history
UK Officials Push Back at Trump Saying European Leaders ‘Talk Too Much’ About Ukraine
UK Warns of Escalating Cyber Assault Linked to Putin’s State-Backed Operations
UK Consumer Spending Falters in November as Households Hold Back Ahead of Budget
UK Orders Fresh Review of Prince Harry’s Security Status After Formal Request
U.S. Authorises Nvidia to Sell H200 AI Chips to China Under Security Controls
Trump in Direct Assault: European Leaders Are Weak, Immigration a Disaster. Russia Is Strong and Big — and Will Win
"App recommendation" or disguised advertisement? ChatGPT Premium users are furious
"The Great Filtering": Australia Blocks Hundreds of Thousands of Minors From Social Networks
Mark Zuckerberg Pulls Back From Metaverse After $70 Billion Loss as Meta Shifts Priorities to AI
Nvidia CEO Says U.S. Data-Center Builds Take Years while China ‘Builds a Hospital in a Weekend’
Indian Airports in Turmoil as IndiGo Cancels Over a Thousand Flights, Stranding Thousands
Hollywood Industry on Edge as Netflix Secures Near-$60 Bln Loan for Warner Bros Takeover
Drugs and Assassinations: The Connection Between the Italian Mafia and Football Ultras
Hollywood megadeal: Netflix acquires Warner Bros. Discovery for 83 billion dollars
The Disregard for a Europe ‘in Danger of Erasure,’ the Shift Toward Russia: Trump’s Strategic Policy Document
×