London mayor backs police chief

London mayor backs police chief

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has said he and other politicians "cannot allow" Met Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair to be forced from his job by the media.
Sir Ian has come under pressure to quit after a critical independent report and a conviction over the death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.

But Mr Livingstone said the job would be "worthless" if Sir Ian was driven out by media criticism.

The prime minister and the home secretary have backed Sir Ian.

Mr de Menezes' family have called for Sir Ian to resign, as have the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

He is legally independent and we want to preserve that

Ken Livingstone
Mayor of London

But Mr Livingstone, speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, said he and government were set on Sir Ian remaining in the job.


"We are all pretty determined we are not going to have a media campaign drive a commissioner from office," he said.

"Other senior officers from around the country have been saying to Ian Blair, 'if you go the job will be worthless to your successors'.

"They will spend their entire time worrying if the press is going to get upset.

"We have never had that before and we cannot allow it."


Mr Livingstone insisted the commissioner had to be independent both of politicians and of the media.

Conviction

"He is legally independent and we want to preserve that," he added.

Sir Ian was personally criticised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in its report into the death of Mr de Menezes on 22 July, 2005.

Among a raft of errors relating to the shooting, the IPCC said Sir Ian tried to prevent its investigation.

A week before the IPCC report was published, a jury convicted the Metropolitan Police of breaching health and safety laws when officers pursued Mr de Menezes to a Tube station and shot him seven times.