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Poet who performed before Harry and Meghan’s wedding ‘was strip-searched by police after they falsely accused him of driving without insurance’

One of Britain’s most prominent young poets and a friend of Prince Harry lashed out at police yesterday for strip-searching him ‘out of nowhere’ after a performance.

George Mpanga, 27, known as George the Poet, said he was ‘handled like a second-class citizen’ by police who ‘made up lies’ about him being aggressive and having weapons.

The Cambridge-educated artist was first noticed by police when they scanned his car number plate and thought it was uninsured.

He was then handcuffed and strip-searched – but was released 20 minutes later after the police insurance records were found to be inaccurate.

Mr Mpanga, who opened the BBC’s coverage of the recent Royal Wedding with one of his poems, and whose work has won the support of Prince Harry, accused police of being ‘very rude’.

He wrote online: ‘I don’t like sharing images of me being handled like a second-class citizen by public servants whose salaries we pay taxes for.

‘But these images should be an education for anyone who doesn’t understand the toxic energies that are quietly spread throughout our community by state actors. Imagine if my nephews woke up and saw their big famous uncle getting handled like this. What seeds would that sow in them?’

In stills taken from the video Mr Mpanga posted on Instagram, he is seen being led away in handcuffs by police

Mr Mpanga studied politics at King’s College, Cambridge, with the ambition of becoming an MP or senior civil servant.

Instead he has become one of the country’s most celebrated performance poets, winning a series of accolades.

Earlier this year he appeared as a panellist on Question Time and spoke at a New York conference run by billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates. The poet shared a photo of him with Prince Harry in the lead-up to the Royal Wedding but their connection goes back further – through the royal’s Sentebale charity, which supports youngsters affected by HIV in Lesotho and Botswana. In 2015, the prince released a video for World Aids Day which featured a poem specially written by Mr Mpanga.

The Metropolitan Police defended the search last Thursday and said the officers were patrolling an area of ‘high gang activity’ when they stopped Mr Mpanga in Neasden, north London.

In a video, they can be heard asking him for ‘photo ID’ to which he replies: ‘Look me up in Wikipedia.’ In his online tirade, Mr Mpanga said: ‘Out of nowhere they cuffed me and searched my car for weapons.’ He said he had just arrived home after a gig and added that he doesn’t mention police in his performances because ‘I’m sick of talking about them’ and ‘they will never change’.

He went on: ‘But to be cuffed and dragged around in front of my parents while they make up lies about me being aggressive and having weapons… It’s a reminder that we don’t fight on our own terms, we fight on theirs.’ Official figures published in October showed black people were eight times more likely to be targeted for stop and search than white people.

A police spokesman said the search was done ‘correctly’, adding: ‘The man’s behaviour provided grounds for officers to search him.’