'I wrote to the Prime Minister to correct her': Who is the likely new PSNI chief Jon Boutcher (and what are people saying about him)?

His selection, which still requires a final confirmation, emerged on Wednesday.

He had applied for the post in 2019 but lost to Simon Byrne, whom he now is expected to replace.

But who is Mr Boutcher?

When giving evidence to parliament in 2020 about Operation Kenova – arguably the highest-profile of all the cases he has worked on – he described himself as follows:

"I served for 36 years as a police officer, my career was almost entirely spent as a detective.

"I have considerable experience of counter-terrorism and serious and organised crime investigations; I have led a number of complex and sensitive investigations, both nationally and internationally, tackling organised crime and terrorist networks.”

He served as the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s lead man on the management of informants, surveillance, and undercover policing, and was the “national policing lead for race, religion and belief”.

At that time in 2020, he was in charge of no fewer than four major projects:

• Operation Kenova;
• ​Operation Mizzenmast (into the killing of Catholic civilian Jean Smyth-Campbell in June 1972, which her family believe was carried out by the army’s Military Reaction Force);
• ​Operation Turma (the triple murder of RUC sergeant Sean Quinn and constables Allan McCloy and Paul Hamilton in 1982 in an IRA bomb, which allegedly led to a shoot-to-kill policy to suppress IRA activity);
• ​And The Barnard Review (described as “an analytical report on collusion” surrounding murders by the loyalist Glennane Gang in the 1970s, widely believed to have involved the UVF and rogue police and soldiers).

As for Kenova, he described it as: “The investigation into the activities of the alleged agent known as ‘Stakeknife’ [the now-dead Freddie Scappaticci] and related matters.

"It includes investigating the activities of the Provisional IRA and its Internal Security Unit as connected to the alleged agent.

"The investigation is also examining any potential complicity of the state in multiple cases of murder, torture or other related criminality.”

It is rumoured that the Kenova report may be out by next week.

According to The Guardian, Mr Boutcher was also in charge of “the hunt for men who tried to bomb London on July 21, 2005, and the investigations into the attempted car bombing of London’s Haymarket in 2007 and the Glasgow airport attack”.

​Here are some other stand-out moments of his career:

• RACE, TRANS ACTIVISM, AND CHALLENGING TORIES

In 2021, the London Evening Standard carried strongly-worded comments from him about the government’s plans for a Troubles amnesty (which became law last month).

The paper quoted him as saying: “To take away the hope, the prospect, the potential of justice for these families, and these are some of the most heinous crimes committed in the UK in modern history, certainly doesn’t sit with me comfortably...

“Let’s not beat around the bush here, there is a clear agenda from the Conservative Government to protect veterans.

“I speak to veterans all the time... the veterans I speak to very much do not support that type of statute of limitations.

“I’m sure I speak for all the police service, and actually all the military: it’s the rule of law that sets us apart.

"I think it is a miscalculation to apply a statute of limitations in the name of the veterans.”

See the latest news on this here:

• Veterans minister Johnny Mercer defends blanket Troubles amnesty at Tory conference, saying party has 'ended the scourge' of criminal charges for ex-soldiers

Prior to that, Mr Boutcher had taken exception to comments in 2018 from Theresa May after the then-Prime Minister said “the only people being investigated for [Troubles crimes] are those in our armed forces or those who served in law enforcement”.

“The Prime Minister got it wrong and I wrote to her to correct her,” Mr Boutcher told the media.

“[I] made it very clear we are investigating the IRA and any wrongdoing by the security forces.

"So I wrote to her to remind her of that and put the record straight.”

In an interview with The Guardian that same year, Mr Boutcher – “in a break from the line taken by police chiefs” up until then, according to the paper – said “the pace of change is too slow” when it came to tackling racial issues in the police.

He was quoted as saying: “The police establishment need challenging on race...

“Race is at the core of so much, we should always have race as a priority regarding representation and community confidence.

"Race has not continued to be the priority it should have over the last 25 years.

“It has dropped off the agenda at times because of other priorities. It is too important to fall off the agenda at any time.”

In 2016, while chief of Bedfordshire, he hit back at a highly-critical report by HM Inspectorate of Constabularies which had found that the force was “inadequate”.

He said the findings were “unfair”, “made little sense”, and that his officers were “outstanding”.

In 2015, while deputy chief of Bedfordshire, the force flew a rainbow flag at its headquarters to mark IDAHOBIT Day (the international day against, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia).

He was quoted in his local paper saying: “Flying the flag is a gesture of our continued support and solidarity but there is still prejudice to tackle.

"We are working closely with our partner agencies to fight against hate crime.

"We are committed to ensuring everyone can feel safe in Bedfordshire and are calling for our communities to embrace difference and put an end to homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.”

Back in 2014, while an assistant chief constable and also the national policing spokesman on surveillance, he was quoted in the Daily Mail saying: “Everyone tells me crime is down and we are very good in the police at the moment.

“I am convinced that crime isn’t down: it is just being done in a completely different way” – meaning online crime.

• MUTED RESPONSE SO FAR…

So what are people saying about Jon Boutcher after the news of his selection?

Turns out… not that much.

There had been scant reaction from campaigners and politicians at time of writing – but here are two from opposite ends of the political spectrum.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: "The challenges facing the PSNI are severe.

"A crisis in confidence among officers, civilian staff and the public alongside the very serious implications of the unprecedented data breach have left many feeling that the new beginning to policing has fallen far off course.

"In all of our dealings with him through Operation Kenova, we have found Jon Boutcher to be a man of integrity who has put the needs of victims and survivors above the narrow interests of paramilitaries and state agencies."

And loyalist activist Jamie Bryson said: “This is a good appointment – which should be considered being made permanent.”

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