Sir Ian Blair, perhaps the most political policeman in Britain, has protested about the "politicisation" of his office. What really bothers him, of course, is not that the office should be politicised, but that its direction should be set by Boris Johnson, who is answerable to Londoners, rather than by him, Ian Blair. In a delightful slip, the Commissioner added: "I will continue to stay in offic...

Boris Johnson is, as I have long maintained, a great man. It is no small achievement to have prised the prehensile policeman away from his office. Sir Ian Blair announces his resignation I won't rehearse the case against Sir Ian Blair all over again. If you want the full charge-sheet, read this and this. The man was vain, touchy and inept, and presided over an unforgivable misdirection of the...

They couldn't get Tony, so they got his namesake: Boris Johnson told Sir Ian Blair yesterday that he wanted him gone, and twenty-four hours later he is history. David Blunkett has accused Sir Ian's political opponents (we assume that means the Tories, but also anyone else who opposed Sir Ian's liberal, inclusive approach which so flew in the face of police canteen culture) of "a lon...

So farewell then Sir Ian Blair. Just 29 days ago the Metropolitan Police Chief was mocking reports that he was set to be ousted. "The report of my death is an exaggeration,'' he told reporters, quoting Mark Twain. Sir Ian Blair has been an increasingly unpopular commissioner Well, not much, lord copper. Perhaps we can be hardly surprised, particularly given that Jacqui Smith, the Home Se...

Press Release Mayor’s statement on resignation of Sir Ian Blair 2-10-2008   509 “Sir Ian Blair has made a lasting and distinguished contribution to policing, in London and across the UK, for the last 34 years. He will be especially remembered for his successful introduction in London of the Safer Neighbourhood teams and for falling crime levels virtually across

Leadership controversy still haunts Sir Ian Blair as report claims plans are afoot to oust him

As a keen historian and Oxford academic, it would not surprise Britain's most senior policeman, Sir Ian Blair, to find that his enemies are those he should be able to trust most.

Sir Ian Blair is to step down as Metropolitan Police Commissioner after a career overshadowed by the shooting of the innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.

Sir Ian Blair will give evidence in public to the Metropolitan Police Authority's inquiry into race and faith discrimination in the Met. The inquiry, set up by Boris Johnson following a series of damaging claims by ethnic minority officers during Sir Ian's tenure as Met commissioner, had previously been told by Sir Ian when he accepted its invitation to appear before its panel that he wo...

Reading over the events subsequent to the resignation of Sir Ian Blair, I was quite bemused to come across the following statement from the chief constable of West Yorkshire: “The determination to make the police service more accountable to elected representatives. What that means is bringing the police service under greater political control.” One wonders