Dame Cressida Dick had barely departed as boss of Britain’s largest police force before Downing Street was making veiled threats that her successor ought to go easy on Boris Johnson in Scotland Yard’s “partygate” investigation. On Friday, No 10 let it be known that the Metropolitan police would need to be “very certain” that the prime minister breached lockdown rules before issuing him with a fixed penalty notice – a fine that would probably trigger a vote of confidence in Mr Johnson’s leadership.
“There is inevitably a degree of discretion here,” a senior ally of the prime minister told the Times. “If [Mr Johnson] does get one it would be odd if the discretionary action of the police determines the future of the country.” Anyone seeking to be the next Met police commissioner would have got the message: this is politics, use your “discretion” and keep your nose out of it.
It is Mr Johnson who should stay out of the appointment process entirely, as he is the subject of a Met investigation. Britain’s model of “policing by consent” is based on the idea that the police maintain an impartial rule of law independent of governments or parties. To ensure that the next Met police chief can command public confidence, there are a number of steps that should be taken.
First, there should be a shortlist of candidates published so that ministers cannot parachute a surprise political ally into the job. After he or she is installed in Scotland Yard, MPs and the Greater London Assembly must be allowed to quiz the new Met chief and be satisfied that the partygate investigation remains a priority, free from political meddling. If an interim commissioner takes over, then they too must be able to give the public assurance that this is the case.
The new Met chief will be appointed by Priti Patel, Mr Johnson’s home secretary, after consulting the Labour mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Whoever it is must have the backing of both. Dame Cressida seems to have jumped before she was pushed. She appeared unable to produce a plan that satisfied Mr Khan’s insistence that the Met tackle a racist, misogynistic and homophobic culture and recover the trust of Londoners. Ms Patel, who last year lost the confidence of rank-and-file officers over pay restraint, says she wants someone to tackle violent crime.
Dame Cressida appeared to have the support of Mr Johnson. Last year the official report into the Daniel Morgan murder had accused the Met boss of being personally obstructive and her force of being institutionally corrupt. Despite such a finding, the commissioner received Mr Johnson’s endorsement last October for a two-year extension to her time in office. She seemed untouchable during the weeks when she refused to investigate reports of parties in Downing Street in the middle of the pandemic lockdowns. Police now say this was because nobody admitted to taking part.
The writing may have been on the wall for Dame Cressida when the Met announced an inquiry into partygate last month – though officers insisted the full report into the parties by Sue Gray, a civil servant, would not be published until their work was over. The prime minister’s calculation now seems to be that if he can dodge a penalty notice, he can ride out the storm of public anger over there being one rule for him and another for everyone else. Mr Johnson no doubt thinks that even if the full Gray report is published – and makes it obvious that he ought to have been fined – the moment of danger would have passed. However, for the new Met chief it would have only just begun.
