Skepticlawyer

Sir Ian Blair says he was forced out of the job of Metropolitan Police commissioner by Boris Johnson “to show the power of the London mayoralty”.

He told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show that it had “dangerous implications” for the future of British policing. He also said the UK did not have the safeguards in place that existed in the US where politicians hired and fired police chiefs.

Sir Ian resigned in October 2008 after facing a number of controversies.

During his tenure, he presided over a series of reforms, including the introduction of community support officers, but his close relationship with former prime minster Tony Blair was disliked by some senior officers.

He was also criticised over his handling of the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005 and for publicly questioning why the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in Soham, had been such a big news story…

Sir Ian, who is promoting his autobiography, said Mr Johnson had effectively introduced the US situation where “chief officers come and go at the behest of the mayor”.

- BBC News