There have been no repercussions against any officers or top brass after Britain’s Royal Air Force was exposed as having violated equality laws by actively discriminating against white men in favour of women and ethnic minorities.
No sanctions have been levied for breaches of equality legislation after a whistleblower revealed last year that the Royal Air Force (RAF) had discriminated against prospective candidates if they were white men — who were branded as “useless white male pilots” — in a bid to increase diversity within the ranks of the military in the two years leading up to March of 2021.
While the RAF has apologised for the discrimination and attempted to cast blame on legal advice given to the force, there has not been one member of the Royal Air Force that has received any disciplinary action. According to a report from Sky News, the only person to have lost their position amid the scandal was Group Captain Lizzy Nicholl, who blew the whistle on the discrimination against white men and resigned as she refused to take part in it.
In contrast, the broadcaster reported that Group Captain William Dole, who served as the head of recruitment during the time, is set to be promoted and senior personnel officer, Air Commodore Jo Lincoln will be moving to a new post, with neither facing any punishment for their role in discriminating against white men.
Meanwhile, the then-chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston — who championed diversity drives — retired earlier this year and RAF’s top personnel officer, Air Vice-Marshal Maria Byford is also set to retire without any sanction.
Last year, it was alleged that the RAF had instituted an “effective pause” on allowing white male candidates into the force and that it was willing to “break the operational requirement of the air force just to meet diversity”. Meanwhile, whistleblowers claimed, the air force was “doing everything” in its power “to encourage recruiting from under-represented groups and ensure [the RAF has] a diverse workforce”.
An investigation into the abuses found that there were at least 161 cases of unlawful positive discrimination, in which candidates attempting to join the regular enlisted ranks were bumped up in the air force, despite not meeting the qualifications. Sky News has claimed that the practice of discrimination was far more widespread than the official inquiry admits.
An unnamed white man who had attempted and failed to join the RAF during the time said that he was outraged over the fact that there has not been any repercussions for the discrimination, saying: “I think it’s awful, to be honest.”
“So many lives would have been affected by it – some maybe even ruined because it [a career in the RAF] is something people dream about their whole lives… For there to be no action, nothing really done about it, just an apology, it feels very cheap.”
An RAF spokesman said: “The Non-Statutory Inquiry into RAF Recruiting and Selection has now been published – the RAF has accepted the recommendations in full and these are being implemented.
“The RAF has rigorously scrutinised its recruiting practices and will continually monitor these processes, to ensure there is no repeat of the mistakes that were made in the past.”
