Special Branch more than doubles in size (1)
01 May 2003
The Special Branch was set up in 1883 and until the mid-1960s was solely based in London's Metropolitan Police force (when it had around 300 officers). Out of London police forces only started to create SB branches of their own after the mass protests of 1967 and 1968. Over the years the number of Special Branch officers has been hard to establish.
In 1977 Statewatch's predecessor State Research carried out a survey of Chief Constables' annual reports and worked with MPs to try and establish the facts.
In May 1977 Dr Summerskill MP answered a parliamentary question for the Home Secretary (then Labour's Meryln Rees) which said that the size of the Special Branch was: "1% of the total size of the police force". On this basis it was possible to estimate that the approximate strength of the SB was 550 in the Metropolitan Police Special Branch (MPSB), 550 in the other 42 police forces in England and Wales and a further 80 SB officers in Scotland.
By 1980 a fuller and more accurate picture had been compiled especially as a number of Chief Constables' reports now included the number of SB officers in their forces. Following much public discussion and criticism, the overall figures were finally provided by the Home Secretary, Merlyn Rees. There were 1,259 SB officers in England and Wales (Hansard, 24.5.78) and 279 SB officers in Northern Ireland (Hansard, 13.6.78). The numbers for the eight Scottish police forces of 100 SB officers was still an estimate although it was known that the Strathclyde force (the largest) had 60 SB officers. Thus for the first time it was possible to give a breakdown of SB strength:
England and Wales
Met (MPSB): 409 (Hansard, 24.5.78)
42 out of London forces: 850
Scotland: 100
Northern Ireland: 279
total: 1,638
Lest it should be thought that in comparison to the present day that these were quiet times it should be remembered that in the late 1970s the Cold War was still in full swing, that industrial strikes were commonplace, the conflict in Northern Ireland was ongoing and the TUC annual conference had passed a resolution highly critical of the role of the Special Branch. Mass confrontations at Grunwick's factory and the enormous anti-racist demonstration in Southall in 1979 (where Blair Peach was killed by a Special Patrol Group officer), the deportation of ex-CIA agent Philip Agee (whose book the "CIA Diary" was published in the UK and became a world-wide best-seller) and Mark Hosenball, a journalist, the subsequent “ABC” (Aubrey, Berry, Campbell) Official Secrets Act trial and "uprisings" in 26 British cities in 1981 meant these were turbulent times.
Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary's report for 1988, which covers all the forces in England and Wales except the Met Police said there were "about 700" SB officers in the 41 provincial forces. However, to this figure must be added a proportion of the 738 officers permanently employed in the UK the National Ports Scheme (NPS, which covers ports and airports, this role was provided nationally by the Metropolitan Police Special Branch, MPSB, until 1978).
Figures in the 1990s showed that the size of the MPSB had risen to 523 plus 124 civilian staff (Met Police, November 1992). However, it should be noted that by this time a number of its functions had been hived off and assumed a life of their own, for example, the Anti-Terrorist Branch (SO13) had 93 officers and 16 civilian staff and the Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Squad (SO 14/15/16) 847 officers and 33 civilian staff. Most significantly the Met Special Branch's original nineteenth century role of gathering intelligence on Irish Republican activity in mainland Britain was taken away from it in 1992 and handed to MI5 (it retained a secondary role in support of MI5 on this issue and international terrorism in general).
Amending the 1978 figures at the beginning of the 1990s gives the following:
England and Wales
MPSB: 523
42 out