The Shadow of Great Britain

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Police Commissioner Committee.

Simply reading the name, it might easily lead one to believe it is just another permanent advisory body under the Home Office, much like many subordinate institutions of the Home Office, used for keeping idle people, feeding idle mouths, and through the food fed to these idle mouths, engaging in the exchange of benefits and political corruption.

Of course, I cannot deny that similar multitudinous examples do exist within the Home Office.

However, at least the Police Commissioner Committee is not such an organization.

In fact, among a series of committees set up in White Hall, the importance of the Police Commissioner Committee is second only to the Trade Commission, Navy Commission, Ordnance Commission, and Poor Law Commission.

In the administrative documents of the Home Office, the Police Commissioner Committee is described as: a permanent advisory body under the Home Office supervised by the Home Secretary, established initially to coordinate conflicts arising in interdepartmental affairs such as police work, diplomatic security, postal transportation, and fire prevention.

Although the position of chairman of the Police Commissioner Committee is concurrently held by the Home Secretary, Lord John Russell, like most committee chairs, Lord Russell is merely a figurehead here, especially after the Cold Bath incident, the Home Office’s direct control over police affairs is limited, and the Secretary cannot possibly handle police details daily, so everyone is clear that the spokesperson here is Secretary-General Sir Arthur Hastings.

My reason for saying this is not because I have forgotten about the other two committee members.

Henry Hobhouse, as the former Permanent Under-Secretary of the Home Office, is highly respected within the system, but after all, he is an old bureaucrat long retired from frontline duties and has no interest in competing with Sir Arthur.

And Sir Charles Shaw?

This officer who returned from the Spanish battlefield is a young and ambitious figure, but alas, Minister Luo Wan, the spokesperson of Scotland Yard, simply does not regard this less experienced Army officer.

It is well known that in British police work, the weight of Scotland Yard exceeds at least half.

Of course, this does not mean that police work in other cities and counties is unimportant.

Rather, the local police budget is borne by local governments themselves, the local police do not eat the central fiscal grain, and thus naturally regard orders from the police nucleus as they come.

Precisely for this reason, over time, within the Police Commissioner Committee, work from the London Metropolitan Area is focused to be reported to Sir Arthur Hastings, while matters from other localities are first reported to Sir Charles Shaw, then everyone brainstorms together.

Ah, the committee members of the Police Commissioner Committee have no status differences, it’s merely a division of labor, everyone is striving in the police work of Great Britain.

However, it is the same police work, some can achieve political achievements and deliver results consistently, while others run into obstacles daily, causing the police reforms pushed by the Home Office to stall locally.

What does this illustrate?

This illustrates that work itself has no distinction between high and low, but work capability indeed differs greatly!

It illustrates that some committee members are in their positions but do not fulfill their political duties, Her Majesty the Queen has entrusted such important responsibilities to him, yet he not only is indifferent to the work, but also dares to lay flat openly at the workplace!

For such corrupt, degenerate, and irresponsible officials, although it is not suitable to criticize or name them in meetings out of gentlemanly decorum.

Nevertheless, I still hope to take this opportunity to remind him to remain vigilant.

Sir Charles Shaw, do you think this statement holds true?

The door of the Home Office conference room slowly opened after the statement ”meeting adjourned” by Permanent Under-Secretary Samuel March Phillips fell.

Sir Charles Shaw put away the documents laid in front of him, lowered his head, and left his seat, the face that had endured the fires of the Spanish Civil War showing not a hint of blood.

Suddenly, he raised his head and looked towards Phillips, moved his lips, but ultimately said nothing.

Today in the meeting Phillips, although did not mention his name even once, every word sounded like stabbing his lungs.

Like saying:

Police work is not a military parade. The value of discipline lies not in proper posture, but in orders being executable.

Soldiers can err, but civil servants cannot. The order of the Sun Never Sets Empire is not maintained by military medals, but by documentation, procedure, and rationality.

I do not dare expect every committee member to be proficient in administration, but I hope they understand that a signature on a document signifies responsibility, not honor.

During the meeting process, Shaw innumerable times wanted to overturn the table with Phillips, but he ultimately understood he is neither a French soldier nor a Russian soldier, but a British soldier.

In Britain, soldiers clashing with White Hall achieve nothing good.

Speak for him, not even the Duke of Wellington, when facing White Hall, has had more than once to bite the bullet.

During the Peninsular War, due to the Sintra Convention, White Hall even went out of its way to recall this ever-victorious general back to the country to undergo investigation by the Sintra Commission.

Moreover, when he successfully halted the advance of French Marshal Massena through the Torres Vedras Line, the army funds he requested were repeatedly cut and delayed by the Treasury and Military Supply Department on the grounds of ”accounts not verified,” resulting in the Duke of Wellington’s officers having no choice but to supply on credit.