Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAP) has been found to have discriminated against white men in its recruitment processes.
Air Vice Marshal Maria Byford instructed Group Captain Lizzy Nicholl to focus on women and ethnic minorities in recruitment over qualified white applicants.
Nicholl refused to obey the order, saying the instruction was unlawful.
The officer wrote in an email obtained by Sky News, “This is unlawful.”
“I am not prepared to delegate or abdicate the responsibility of actioning that order to my staff,” the email said.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston previously stated that there had been no unlawful discrimination, but has since blamed the incident on various processes.
While discriminating on the basis of ethnicity, sex, and sexual orientation is illegal in the U.K., “positive action” programs within equality laws make some programs only available to select groups.
Employers are also allowed to choose one candidate over another for the sake of “representation.”
Reporting from National Pulse:
[Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston] who previously told Parliament there had been no unlawful discrimination against white men, said the inquiry’s report made for “uncomfortable reading” – but has vowed no one will be fired, spreading blame for the fiasco across various processes and bits of legal advice so no individual decision maker is held responsible. Similar tactics have been used to avoid punishing police officers over Britain’s grooming gangs scandals.
