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The Metropolitan Police Service has once again been exposed as a cesspit of misogyny, racism and abuse – and once again, we’re being told to believe in promises of reform.

But how many times can Londoners be asked to put faith in an institution that has failed women, minorities and the public again and again?

This time the rotten apples were exposed in a BBC Panorama documentary that secretly filmed officers at Charing Cross police station.

The footage shows serving officers joking about rape, calling for immigrants to be shot, making sexualised comments to colleagues and revelling in the use of force.

This is not harmless banter; it is the behaviour of people who have power over Londoners’ lives.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said he is “disgusted and appalled”.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has branded it “disturbing” and “sickening”.

And Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has apologised, calling it “reprehensible and completely unacceptable”.

But how many times have we heard all this before?

Rowley promises “fast-track hearings” and “likely dismissals”.

Yet these are the same kind of pledges that were made after

• Wayne Couzens used his warrant card and handcuffs to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard in 2021;
• David Carrick’s 49 sex crimes, including 24 rapes;
• Child Q – who was black, female and on her period – was strip-searched at school by four Met officers who ignored safeguarding rules and basic decency; and
• The Casey Review declared the Met to be “institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic”.

The list goes on and on – scandal after scandal documented by Vox Political in recent years.

Each one was meant to be a “turning point”.

Each time we were told “never again”.

And after each time, more rot was exposed.

The truth is unavoidable: this is not a story of “bad apples” – the entire orchard is poisoned.

Every attempt to pin the blame on individuals ignores the systemic corruption of an institution that shields abusers, enables racists, and allows misogyny to flourish.

Even the vetting process is broken.

A review after Couzens and Carrick revealed that hundreds of officers with histories of violence, sexual misconduct or links to organised crime were allowed to serve.

Women in the force told inspectors they had been subjected to appalling behaviour from male colleagues – and nothing was done.

So let’s stop pretending this is about a few “rogue officers”.

The problem is the Metropolitan Police itself.

The Met has had chance after chance to clean itself up.

Instead, its culture of abuse persists, and public trust sinks lower with every revelation.

Baroness Casey suggested the Met might need to be broken up altogether if it cannot reform.

Looking at the Panorama evidence, can anybody still claim that reform is working? Or even possible?

If the Met cannot protect women from its own officers; if it cannot purge racists and sex offenders from its ranks; and if it cannot command the trust of Londoners, then the question is not whether it should be broken up.

The question is why it still exists at all.

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