Life of Brian actor John Cleese tears into North Yorkshire Police's 'disgraceful' treatment of Christian PCSO
John Cleese cited Monty Python’s legendary comedy film Life Of Brian as he joined criticism of North Yorkshire Police’s “absolutely disgraceful” treatment of a Christian officer for asking questions about Islam during diversity training.
The actor was responding to news coverage of Luke Salmons, a police community support officer accused of expressing religious and political beliefs “not aligned with NYP policies” and dismissed for gross misconduct last July.
Mr Salmons, from Harrogate, successfully appealed and has reached a settlement before the case went to an employment tribunal.
Life of Brian (1979) famously satirises certain aspects of Christianity and organised religion - although its real target is human gullibility, mob mentality, and blind fanaticism.
Cleese, who played six roles in the film, including Reg, the bickering leader of the separatist group "The People's Front of Judea" said on X, formerly Twitter: “Criticising Islam is within the British tradition of people discussing the merits of religions, and I can scarcely believe that some faceless authoritarian should be allowed to punish a person for doing so.
“Should I expect to be punished for Life of Brian? Absolutely disgraceful.”
Mr Salmons said his reputation was “shredded in secret” after he attended a compulsory pilot training programme intended to help develop a new force policy on race, religion and culture.
He described how one session turned into “indoctrination” after trainers repeatedly walked up and down the room chanting: “Islam is a religion of peace”.
He questioned a Muslim sergeant leading a session for his thoughts on Gaza and the terrorist group Hamas, which committs atrocities in the name of Islam. He also asked for his interpretation of the term “jihad”.
One of the criticisms made of him was that he had a book, Answering Jihad – A Better Way Forward –which was removed without his consent from his locker. He said this was a double standard as the Muslim officer had offered to provide him with reading material about Islam.
North Yorkshire Police confirmed Mr Salmons’ appeal had been upheld but denied the sessions involved chanting or religious indoctrination. It claims its policy is to be “open to challenge and listen to the different perspectives of all our colleagues”.