BORIS HAD TO OUST BLUNDERING BLAIR
Blair had lost his grip on London
By David Robson
So Sir Ian Blair’s reign as Metropolitan Police Commissioner is ended. It has been a long time coming.
His trademark has been pontificating and politicking. He set himself up as the thinking man’s policeman.
Too much thinking and not enough policing. It was the Mayor, Boris Johnson, who did for him and it was a fair cop.
The Home Secretary may wave reduced crime figures at us but too many of the streets of London feel threatening, too many people feel threatened and the image of our capital seems as disturbing as New York in the Seventies, before their police got a grip.
Blair long ago lost his grip on his force. He wasn’t popular. To many officers he seemed as self-absorbed and removed from reality as he did to the average citizen.
He was worried about the wrong things. Yes, he was right, there was racism in the police and it had to be dealt with but no, not in a way that undermined officers’ ability to do the necessary, as happened on his watch.
Yes, proper records must be kept and due process observed but no, officers mustn’t be reduced to paper-pushing bureaucrats too busy to fight crime, as happened under him. Yes, the Met Commissioner is an important figure who should have a voice in national affairs but no, it should never be insistent and wrongheaded as his became. Less preaching, more protection for the public. That’s what we wanted.
The mistaken police shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube Station in 2005 is being examined at an inquest. Whatever its precise conclusion, Blair will not emerge from it well. On that dramatic day and in its aftermath, he seemed quite unable to give a straight or full account of what had happened. It was an early sign that something was wrong with him and his regime. It was never really corrected.
The Commissioner who prided himself on getting members of ethnic minorities into his force is now beset with racism claims by senior Asian officers. Whatever the rights and wrongs of this, it is a profound and damaging embarrassment, undermining the force and hobbling any leadership Blair could give.
The Met Commissioner is England’s leading policeman. He sets the tone for crime fighting on our streets. If we have no confidence in him, we are in serious trouble. He never succeeded in convincing us he was winning, or even going the right way about it.
The public’s priorities are clear, Sir Ian Blair’s were not. The duty of the police is to protect us, to concentrate on serious offences, to apprehend wrongdoers. The duty of the Commissioner is to establish his authority, inspire loyalty in his force and make everyone feel he is leading in the right direction. Nuff said.
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