Blair hits back at police 'politicisation'

Friday, 28 November 2008 10:02 AM

Outgoing Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair has hit back at the increasing 'politicisation' of UK policing.

Speaking on his last day in office, Sir Ian advised any potential successor to tell mayor of London Boris Johnson how the force should be run.

Candidates should let Mr Johnson know of the relationship they will have with him and tell him "if you don't want it, don't choose me," he said.

The commissioner said parts of the Met had become "a bit like politics" but denied he had a bad relationship with mayor of London Boris Johnson.

"I don't see myself as a victim. I don't see him [Mr Johnson] as a villain. I just see this as there comes a moment when you have to take hard choices," he added.

The commissioner suggested that there was too much political interference in certain parts of the police force and called for officers to be given more "breathing room" when dealing with police incidents.

"I think what we need is both of the major parties to give the police a bit more breathing room and recognise how extraordinary the achievements are," he said in his final interview as Met commissioner.

"An unarmed service, reducing crime at a rate that has never been seen before, with public confidence going up, battling terror at one end and antisocial behaviour at the other: Now those are the areas we want to be concentrating on, not specific events, specific failures."

Sir Ian admitted that since he had been in the Met the force had suffered "occasional disasters", adding: "That is the business we are in and we have to accept those and move on."

Looking back at his time as head of the country's largest police force, Sir Ian said it had been "99 per cent enjoyable" claiming that the Met's response to the July 2005 terrorist attacks was one of his proudest moments.

He added that he viewed Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian electrician shot dead by Met officers at Stockwell tub station the day, as a victim of the terrorist attack.

Sir Ian also said he was pleased that assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur had recently withdrawn his allegations of racial discrimination.

"Even my most severe critics would find that charge of racism a little odd. My job is to do the job and not to get involved in personal issues. But I did not think my track record is that of a racist," he said.

The outgoing commissioner added that the Met would pursue those responsible for killing Steven Lawrence in 1993 "to the ends of their lives".

Since taking over a Met commissioner in February 2005, Sir Ian has made a number of apparent high-profile gaffes, including questioning why the Soham murders was such a nig news story.

"I'm actually quite proud of what I said," he said.

"The Soham reference was wrong, unnecessary, but I'm actually proud of the fact that I drew attention to the fact the murder of young black people is not as important as the murder of young white people as an average."

Serious about politics?

Dedicate one year of your life to getting to the heart of current issues in global politics. Our courses allow you to specialise in development and policy-making, international relations, and political journalism and communications.

Tags:
• police
,
• policing and crime
,
• public services