How much influence do Freemasons have in the UK?

Metropolitan Police officers may have to tell their bosses if they are members of a Masonic lodge after the force launched a consultation on whether the Freemasons should be added to its “declarable associations” policy.

The consultation is in response to questions over whether membership of the secretive fraternal organisation could impact “investigations, promotions and misconduct”, Scotland Yard said.

There are around six million Freemasons globally, with 200,000 in England and Wales. Almost all of them are men, although there are two all-female orders.

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What did the commentators say?

The decision to launch a consultation follows a report into the unsolved 1987 murder of private detective Daniel Morgan. It “concluded that police officers’ membership of the Freemasons had been ‘a source of recurring suspicion and mistrust in the investigations’”, said The Telegraph.

The “idea” that the group is “pulling the strings behind the scenes” is “based on a misunderstanding” about Masonic orders, said Adrian Marsh, grand secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England. Comparing the stigma around Freemasonry to that of discussing one’s sexuality, Marsh said that “forcing people to declare” they are Freemasons could “breach their human rights”.

For “absolutely ages it was a given that half the coppers in London belonged to the Masons and ditto half the movers in the City”, said Melanie McDonagh in The Spectator. Even now, transparency is sensible to determine if, for instance, a promotion “could be affected by a superior officer being in the same lodge as the subordinate”. But if police were forced to admit participating in the “spectacle of men hopping around blindfold with aprons and rolled-up trousers”, the whole thing “becomes unthreatening” and “humdrum”. That “may be a price worth paying”.

But Freemasonry is undergoing something of a revival. This “coterie of older men” is trying to “attract fresh blood” and “ensure the survival of ‘the craft’” by reducing the minimum age from 21 to 18 and embracing social media, said The Sunday Times. It seems to be working: “tech-obsessed, socially liberal young people” are “clamouring to join an ancient, all-male society”.

In London, “lonely young men” are “lining up” to become Freemasons, said The Londoner. “After decades of secrecy”, London’s Freemasons are “opening up” and using their official TikTok account to “dispel myths” and promote themselves “to a younger audience”. The new recruits are diverse “ethnically and socially”: this 350-year-old boys’ club, which “claims to descend from the guilds of medieval stonemasons”, seems to be “resonating with young Londoners in 2025”.

What next?

Senior police officers will discuss the proposed policy change with the United Grand Lodge of England, the headquarters of Freemasonry. A spokesperson for the group said it is “looking forward” to the conversation.

The Met said that as well as Freemasons, it would also be looking into “other organisations that could call impartiality into question or give rise to conflict of loyalties”, said Sky News.