A nod, a wink and perhaps a helping hand

George VI was a keen member. The Duke of Edinburgh was initiated, but

has taken no active part. However, the Duke of Kent, initiated in 1964,

was made a Grand Master in 1967 at a glittering ceremony in the Albert

Hall to coincide with the official 250th anniversary of the movement.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

* FOR a number of years the Labour MP Chris Mullin has called for an

investigation into Freemasonry in public life. He told me: ''Masons tend

to congregate where influence is being disposed of. In Local Government,

you'll find them on planning committees and that sort of thing.''

Indeed, according to Stephen Knight, in many parts of Britain there

are Masonic Lodges inside local authorities to which both officials and

councillors belong.

In the West of Scotland where local politics is dominated by the

Labour Party and many councillors are Roman Catholics, masonic influence

in local politics is minimal.

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

* ACCORDING to Stephen Knight at any one time between 30 and 60 MPs

are Freemasons but he concluded there was ''no real discernible

influence by Freemasonry on Commons voting.''

He added: ''The majority of MPs who are masons -- witness Cecil

Parkinson . . . -- have no time to attend meetings,'' he says.

However, according to Chris Mullin, there is a lodge in the House of

Commons called the New Welcome Lodge. Its members are mainly but not

exclusively Tories. Knight says there is no evidence of cross-party

collusion by members of the Brotherhood. Incidentally there are also

thought to be separate lodges at Westminster for police officers,

attendants and the press gallery.

CIVIL SERVICE

* THIS is another area of public life where stories about the impact

of Freemasonry are rife. For example it is said that there is a lodge

consisting largely of Ministry of Defence procurement staff and arms

dealers. In The Brotherhood Knight says: ''Membership of the Brotherhood

can be an important factor in promotion, especially to the ranks of the

powerful Permanent Secretaries. In some ministries, Defence for example,

it can be a distinct disadvantage not to be a mason.''

The history of Freemasonry among the middle ranks of public servants

is a long one. Robert Burns, for example, joined the masons in the hope

of furthering his career in the customs service.

In a recent House of Commons motion, Rhodri Morgan, Labour MP for

Cardiff West, claimed that Health Service administration in south and

mid-Glamorgan health authorities is virtually controlled by Freemasons.

''In the Health Service in my area, it isn't a question of masonic

influence but masonic domination. It's almost impossible to get beyond

middle management unless you have a funny handshake. Despite the

charitable work the masons do, their overall influence as a secret

society is like a cancer distorting the way taxpayers' money gets spent

and the way people climb the greasy pole.''

Chris Mullin says: ''The top people have their own networks. It is the

second-raters who are active in masonic lodges. Some just do it for the

social life but others join because they think they'll get something out

of it.''

He added: ''I don't think it can be right for some public servants to

be members of a secret society, one of the aims of which is mutual

self-advancement.''

THE JUDICIARY

* EVER since the Jack the Ripper murders of the 1880s there have been

accusations of cover-ups and conspiracies involving the judiciary and

the legal profession.

A former High Court judge and mason, interviewed by Knight for his

book, maintained that Freemasonry generally exerted an influence for

good among judges because ''Freemasonry teaches a man to love his fellow

men.''

However he admitted that he had known two occasions when Freemasonry

influenced a judge improperly. He said usually mason judges ignore any

words, phrases or motions used by masons to identify themselves as such.

There are many instances of witnesses and defendants using masonic

signs in court when the judge is a mason.In a recent court case

involving a Freemason, the judge admitted he too was a mason in his

opening remarks. Nobody disputes the facts. The question is whether the

exploitation of Freemasonry connections can change the outcome of a

case.

THE POLICE

IT is an open secret the Freemasons are particularly thick on the

ground in the police, especially in certain areas of the country. One of

those areas is Strathclyde.

The strength of Freemasonry in the police raises two moral issues.

First, does Freemasonry distort promotion prospects? Second, are there

cases when Freemasonry influences the course of an investigation (eg

when a mason suspected of a crime is investigated by an officer also in

the Brotherhood?).

Concern about the possible corrupting effect of Freemasonry on the

police goes right back to 1877 when it was revealed that most of the

detective department at Scotland Yard was being controlled by a gang of

swindlers. The scandal had begun with a meeting between a Yard

inspector, John Meiklejohn, and a criminal, William Kurr, at a lodge in

Islington.

As recently as last month Sir Paul Condon, the Metropolitan Police

Commissioner, ordered the removal of Freemasons from the Yard's

anti-corruption squad after an investigation into the operation of the

Brotherhood among their ranks.

Ten years ago Stephen Knight reckoned that as many as 33 of the 50

chief constables in place at the time were masons. Nobody knows what

that figure might be today. However it is known that Strathcyde Chief

Constable Leslie Sharp is not a Mason.

When I attempted to contact the Chief Constable by telephone to

solicit his personal views on the subject, my call was diverted to the

force information office. Superintendent Louis Munn checked with me what

I wished to ask. The questions to Mr Sharp included whether he believed

active membership of a masonic lodge is compatible with being a serving

officer, and whether to his knowledge membership has ever affected

either the course of criminal investigations or promotion prospects.

A few minutes later Superintendent Munn phoned back to say after

consideration he would not be putting my questions to Mr Sharp and

instead issued the following statement:

''As far as Strathclyde Police is concerned, organisations that

members use in their private life is (sic) entirely a matter for them.

It doesn't became a matter for us until such times as it impinges on the

exercise of their duty. If that ever happened it would be treated by us

extremely seriously. As it stands at the moment, there's no evidence to

suggest that this is an issue in Strathclyde Police and we don't intend

to make it an issue.''