Metropolitan Police chief Dame Cressida Dick
(Picture: PA Wire)Dame Cressida Dick could receive a substantial payout and a life peerage after resigning as Met Commissioner, it was claimed on Friday.
The first woman to hold Britain’s top policing job quit on Thursday after losing the confidence of London Mayor Sadiq Khan following a number of racism and misogyny scandals in the force.
Writing in the Standard on Friday, Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was beginning the process of selecting someone to oversee Britain’s largest police force.
A source told the Standard that “discussions are ongoing” at City Hall about the exit package Dame Cressida will receive, which will be paid from the Mayor's Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) budget.
Dame Cressida could receive two thirds of her £230,000 salary as a pension because of her length of service, plus a cash settlement as she leaves her contract 18 months early.
Almost all former Commissioners in recent years have also been given life peerages.
The prospect of the Met Commissioner receiving a huge settlement and sitting in the House of Lords after overseeing so many scandals in the force was described as “galling” on Friday.
Sir Ian Blair, who was Met Commissioner between 2005 and 2008, picked up the equivalent of more than £3,000 a week from a “pension pot” worth about £3.5million after resigning around 18 months before his contract was up.
He was also paid £580,000 during his final eight months in office, more than double his £240,000 salary.
Sir Ian left his post when he lost the confidence of then mayor Boris Johnson following criticism of the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and allegations he was linked to a businessman who had been given £3million of Met contracts.
All but one of the men who have served as Met Commissioner since 1987 have received the honour after leaving office, including predecessor Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe and Sir Ian.
Twickenham MP Munira Wilson said: “A change of leadership in the Met is long overdue.
“I think many Londoners would find it galling if the Commissioner is now handed a large payout and a peerage.
“If Boris Johnson puts Cressida Dick in the House of Lords, it will only add fuel to suspicions of a stitch-up between the Met leadership and Number 10 over the parties in Downing Street.”
Dame Cressida was expected to lead the force until April 2024 after the Mayor and Home Secretary extended her contract in September last year.
When she was appointed in2017, Dame Cressida chose to be paid more than £40,000 a year less than her predecessor.
No reason has been given as to why she has decided to take a smaller salary, but the decision came when MOPAC needed to make £400million in savings.
