Britain's top cop quits amid discord with new London mayor
Posted: 02 October 2008 2236 hrs

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LONDON: Britain's top policeman announced his resignation on Thursday after long-running criticism over racism and a mistaken shooting, and open discord with London's new mayor.

Metropolitan Police chief Ian Blair, who took office shortly before suicide bombings in London in July 2005, said he had lost the backing of the London mayor Boris Johnson, who took office in May.

"I have today offered my resignation as commissioner to the Home Secretary which she has reluctantly but graciously accepted," he told a hastily arranged press conference, adding that he would stand down on December 1.

"Without the mayor's backing I do not consider that I can continue in the job," he added.

Former London mayor Ken Livingstone lamented the announcement, calling it a "political decision."

But Johnson said the Metropolitan Police would benefit from a change of leadership.

"I have made it clear that there comes a time in any organisation to give new leadership," said Johnson. There had been "no particular story or particular allegation that was uppermost in our consideration," he added.

Blair's departure was "an opportunity for a clean break and a new start for policing in London," he said.

Blair has long faced criticism over the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent Brazilian shot dead by police who mistook him for a suicide bomber in the wake of July 2005 bombings in London, which killed 56.

Then in August the Met's top Muslim officer, Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, confirmed that he was taking Blair to an employment tribunal over alleged racism.

And a new media report on Thursday claimed that Blair had used public money to pay a close friend more than 15,000 pounds (26,400 dollars, 19,000 euros) to help him sharpen up his image when he became Met chief in 2005.

The Daily Mail reported that the friend, who had known Blair for 30 years, was the owner of a company that won a contract to help him "make the transition." The friend had received more than three million pounds' worth of police contract work.

The Guardian newspaper said on its online version that it had been the Daily Mail report that had apparently prompted Blair's expected resignation.

The De Menezes killing has been the main cloud hanging over him. Scotland Yard was heavily criticised in a report in August 2007 on the killing, although Blair himself escaped censure.

The pressure mounted on him last November after his police force was found guilty of breaching health and safety laws in the shooting.

But he fought off calls for his resignation, saying officers had done their best in a "simply extraordinary situation."

An inquest into the killing is currently underway in London.

Blair's deputy Paul Stephenson, 54, will take over as acting commissioner, but there was no word on whether he would get the job permanently.

Other favourites to succeed are Hugh Orde, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Ronnie Flanagan, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute to Blair, saying he had made a "huge personal contribution to the safety and security of our country.

"I want to pay particular tribute to Ian's leadership when London experienced the most serious terrorist attacks ever on British soil," he said in a statement. - AFP/de