Met Police reportedly planning to cut Trooping the Colour protection
The Metropolitan Police is reportedly planning to reduce protection for Trooping the Colour and other ceremonial events, with private companies taking on the bulk of security duties.
How it was covered
- GB News was the only channel found covering it, concentrating on fury at private contractors replacing police at Trooping the Colour.
- Channel 5, BBC News, BBC One, Channel 4, ITV and Sky News: not found in tracked broadcasts.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story. Facts only one channel reported are attributed to it.
GB News reported, citing the front page of the Telegraph, that the Metropolitan Police is reportedly planning to cut the vast majority of officers it provides to police the King's Birthday Parade, also known as Trooping the Colour, and other ceremonial events including gun salutes and changing the guard. According to the report, the force will provide only minimal support with far fewer police on the ground, and the bulk of responsibility will be contracted to private companies.
The channel's presenter criticised the plan. He said he wanted to see the King's police, not private contractors in high-vis jackets, protecting the public at a state occasion. He argued that private firms could cost more than using police and carried a security risk because they could be easier for malign actors to infiltrate.
The presenter also linked the decision to wider concerns about policing in outer London. He said officers were being moved from boroughs such as Havering to police marches in inner London, and that residents paid large sums for police cover they did not see. He added that his borough had been told police could not stop traffic for two minutes on Remembrance Sunday.
The coverage did not name the private companies involved, give a timetable for the change, or set out how many officers would remain at the events.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| A GB News presenter claimed private contractors could pose a security risk because malign actors could infiltrate them. | |
| The Met reduced the number of officers policing the King's Birthday Parade and other ceremonial events, with private contractors taking on most of the responsibility. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
GB News treated the reported cut as a symptom of what it framed as the Met's misplaced priorities, focusing on the loss of visible policing at a state occasion and in outer London boroughs. The presenter attacked the plan on cost, security and tradition, and linked it to complaints about Havering losing officers to inner-London marches and to Remembrance Sunday traffic. The segment did not carry a Met statement, private contractor detail or any timetable.
- “I am so frustrated with the Metropolitan Police.”
- “I want to see our police, the King's police, on the streets defending His Majesty”
- “the public are frustrated because they're paying for police they don't see.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.