By Lucy Caulkett-
Dame Cressida Dick is stepping down as head of the Met Police, over poor leadership with the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan saying it’s clear “the only way to start to deliver the scale of the change required is to have new leadership right at the top”.
It follows Mr Khan putting the Met Police Commissioner “on notice” last week after the police watchdog published messages sent by officers that used sexist, racist and homophobic language.
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The Commissioner, hours earlier, insisted she had ‘no intention of going’, sounding defiant in her seeming determination to stay on as commissioner.
In a statement released this evening, she announced that she had stepped down from her position after losing Mr Khan’s confidence.
Dame Cressida had submitted her plan for reform of the Metropolitan Police, but Mr Khan was unsatisfied, and she declined to show up for a meeting called by the Mayor of London.
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The news comes a week after the Mayor said he was ‘not satisfied’ with the Commissioner’s response to calls for change following a series of controversies including the murder of Sarah Everard by depraved cop Wayne Couzens, and racist and misogynist and homophobic messages exchanged by officers at Charing Cross Police Station.
Dame Cressida’s critics have celebrated her resignation, calling her departure ‘long overdue’.
Later, Dame Cressida said she felt she had “no choice” but it was “with great sadness” she was stepping down.
“It is clear that the mayor no longer has sufficient confidence in my leadership to continue,” she said.”He has left me no choice but to step aside as commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service.”
She added: “The murder of Sarah Everard and many other awful cases recently have, I know, damaged confidence in this fantastic police service.”
Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said he believed Dame Cressida had been treated in a “wholly unfair” way and and that she was “much loved across the rank and file of the Metropolitan Police Services.
However, leading the police force goes beyond being loved across the rank.
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