Army restricted ethnic recruits (British)

[JI7]

<The British Army secretly restricted the number of recruits from ethnic minorities for 20 years, newly released official documents show.

From 1957 Army medical officers were instructed to note all new recruits with "Asiatic or Negroid features".

The secret system was uncovered after about 50,000 government files were made public on the first working day of the Freedom of Information Act.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) says the report "does not reflect the current situation" within the armed forces.

Medical officers were given considerable latitude in deciding who was classified as "D factor" or non-white. It could even include people of Mediterranean appearance or a "swarthy Frenchman", according to the documents. >

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