There he was, gone
So the Met Chief, Sir Ian Blair, has resigned.
Apparently, his position has become untenable without the backing of a man whose sole reason for his rise to high office has been the fact that he is a posh & talentless buffoon.
I’ve really not made my mind up about this one. I often bang on about how senior officers never suffer consequences for failings for which they ultimately are responsible, yet I am annoyed that his resignation has come as a result of what seems to be just political interfering from someone I wouldn’t trust to wash my police car (if I had one).
I expect that several wannabees are currently retrieving their previously crafted CVs & well-evidenced PDRs which they wrote over the last two years for just such an occasion in readiness for the application process for the top policing job in the country.
Doubtless the Black Police Association will be out celebrating & announcing proof of their stance against Blair in his resignation. Hopefully, the list of applicants won’t include names like Dizaei & Ghaffur.
XTP says:
Fortunately it won’t be either of those. Guffaw would have to jump 2 ranks and Dizzy 4 which isn’t going to happen. Bet there’s a few like them ready and waiting, though. To be honest, you should all be worrying a little bit, though.
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Stressedoutcop says:
Perhaps he ain’t that stupid? If you need to work as a team – you need to trust each other. The mayor had already set his stall out re the commissioner.
All the other stuff has done for him. The MET were becoming a laughing stock and he had lost control at the top.
It’s a shame but perhaps things can now move forwards
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Eric Roberts says:
I think Boris is a bit of a wolf in sheeps clothing, he did not have the power to sack the Comm. only the Home Secretary does, and politically she is with the Comm. Something is afoot here, the chase is on my dear Watson.
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Reactively Proactive says:
Dear The Met and Boris. Please please consider my chief for the top job. Don’t get me wrong, he would stuff it up on a grand basis but at least he would be out of our hair and we could get back on with the job of policing rather than pandering to his every whim and whacky idea he comes up with.
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Tony F says:
Boris is not as daft as he makes out. Either that, or he is very lucky.
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Civ_In_The_City says:
I`m almost sad to see him go, he produced great targets for the blogs. I wonder if he`s a wee bit confused about how he`s found himself ‘required to resign’ by Boris. From here he seems to always be bending over backwards to keep everyone happy but the harder he tried to be fair and equal the worse things got. Perhaps he was just a bit too soft.
I`ve pre-ordered his memoirs on Amazon.
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:20 pm
MarkUK says:
Don’t underestimate Boris – he’s not as daft as he makes out. (Well, no one could be, could they?) Face it, Boris got Blair to resign even though he theoretically hasn’t the power to do so.
The Commissioner of the Met must be a PR professional for the police nationally. In this, Blair failed miserably. His control over senior officers (Dick, Gaffer, etc) was seriously lacking and promoting Dick when she still has some questions over her competence at Stockwell was ludicrous.
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Dangerous says:
Make no mistake, Boris is not an idiot!! He may be happy to give that impression, but he is one very smart cookie.
As to Blair, I don’t know how good or bad he was, however he did seem close to the other Blair, which condemns him in my book.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 pm
john says:
The commissioner is still appointed by the Home Secretary, and up until the year 2000 they controlled the Met directly. Responsibility was then handed over to the GLA at the same time as power was devolved to an elected mayor. The GLA now runs it through the Metropolitan Police Authority, made up of members appointed by the Mayor and the London Assembly. So, the home secretary can only appoint a replacement that the GLA agree with. The next commissioner will not be a labour appointee. If the home sec appoints an unwanted person, that person will simply find no cooperation is possible with the GLA, and another resignation will occur.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:21 am
Plodnomore says:
What sort of Police Chief would allow his, or her, Force vehicles to have ‘Vote Labour’ stickers affixed – see later article on taking an active part in politics – Blair was given the job as Commissioner purely because of his connection with the other Blair (Big Tone) and throughout his reign actively pursued policies which reflected the Labour party manifesto. That he was hoist with his own politically correct petard by the chancers in the Black Police Association would be funny if it were not for the fact that the only people who will suffer from this are the taxpayers (if Ghaffur and Dizaei had any honour they would now withdraw their complaints as their target has left, though the future will show whether they understand that word). Whilst promoting equality and fairness, recent events have shown that Blair was no more than a robber baron, running roughshod over procedures and ensuring his mates, both inside and outside the Force, did not exactly suffer from his appointment. I take my pension each month, read about how this job is going down the pan and am so glad I’m now looking in from the outside and not the other way around – you end up with a completely different perspective.
Plodnomore
October 4th, 2008 at 8:22 pm