Sadiq Khan was on Wednesday accused by the Met’s Deputy Commissioner of ousting Cressida Dick without due process in a dramatic escalation of hostilities between the Mayor and Scotland Yard.
Sir Stephen House said Dame Cressida had been removed contrary to the procedures laid down in legislation with her ousting instead “played out in the media”.
He said he has written to Home Secretary Priti Patel as a result asking her to investigate before further rounding on the Mayor in a series of robust criticisms of his approach.
Sir Stephen said that the text messages of the racist and misogynistic officers at Charing Cross, which Mr Khan cited as a trigger for his fury with Dame Cressida – “cannot have been a surprise” to the Mayor because his office had been briefed on them previously and they had been under investigation for four years.
He added that the Mayor had also been a “strong advocate” last year of giving Dame Cressida a three year contract extension, instead of the two she was granted by the Home Secretary, and had also been a “vocal supporter” of the Commissioner in a meeting with her and Ms Patel only a few weeks ago.
“I feel deeply disappointed,” Sir Stephen told a meeting of City Hall’s police and crime committee.
“There is a clear procedure laid down in statute to allow for the replacement of a police chief officer. It’s not been followed in this instance, it’s not even been initiated, due process has not been followed and instead we’ve seen matters played out in the media.
“Because of this, I’ve written to the Home Secretary to ask her to carry out a review of what’s happened in this case.”
Sir Stephen said that he would also City Hall’s police and crime committee to consider whether it wanted to investigate too before launching a further attack on the Mayor’s conduct.
He added: “As well as feeling deeply disappointed, I’m very surprised. Many of us are. Only a few months ago, the Mayor was a strong advocate for a three year extension for this Commissioner.
The Charing Cross messages cannot have been a surprise to this Mayor. The Mayor’s office for policing and crime have been briefed on these events and they have been under investigation for four years. Only a few weeks ago the Mayor was a vocal supporter of the Commissioner in a tripartite meeting with the Home Secretary, hence my surprise at what’s happened.”
Sir Stephen added that Dame Cressida was the outstanding police officer of her generation and with emotion cracking his voice that he had “never worked with a finer, more ethical, more professional, more resolute and dutiful, more caring leader.”
Dame Cressida resigned after being told by Mr Khan that he had no confidence in her ability to transform her force after a series of scandals including the Charing Cross Whatsapp exchanges between officers and the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens.
No date has been set yet for her departure and no details of the likely large payout that she might receive have been disclosed so far.
In response, Deputy Mayor of London Sophie Linden said a survey of 12,000 people showed around half did not have confidence in the Metropolitan Police, down from 68 per cent who did have confidence in 2017 when Dame Cressida became commissioner.
Ms Linden said: “It was clear to the mayor that urgent action needed to be taken and through the discussions and the follow-up correspondence from the commissioner, the mayor was very clear that he was not satisfied with the scale and the urgency of the response to particular things.
“One of which was an acceptance of the scale of the problem within the Metropolitan Police, but also a comprehensive plan to re-establish trust and confidence in Londoners.
