Priti Patel Declines To Express Confidence In Met Police Chief

Priti Patel Declines To Express Confidence In Met Police Chief

By Ben Kerrigan-

Home Secretary Priti Patel has declined to express her confidence in Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick over the force’s botched VIP child sex abuse investigation.

Ms Patel was questioned on LBC Radio, where she  was asked whether she has confidence in the police chief.

Careful not to answer in either the affirmative or the negative, Ms Patel responded: “I work with the commissioner.

She said: “The commissioner does a lot of great work and she oversees the largest police force in the country.

“There are still questions, rightly so – some questions have been put to me today, actually, very publicly in newspapers, and it’s right that I also look at these questions.”

Patel’s reaction follows came a former High Court judge calling on her to launch a criminal inquiry into the failed probe.

In an open letter, Sir Richard Henriques said Scotland Yard’s disastrous Operation Midland has “gravely damaged” confidence in the justice system.

He heavily criticised the Met’s bungled investigation into false claims of a VIP sex abuse ring in Westminster in a 2016 report, which identified 43 police failings.

But the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) watchdog found no evidence of misconduct or criminality by the officers during the operation.

Former home secretary Leon Brittan was one of the men falsely accused by fantasist Carl Beech – then known as “Nick” – and died in January 2015 without knowing there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

AMs Patel’s spokesman however  later spoke on her behalf has “full confidence” in Dame Cressida.

He said: “As the Home Secretary said, she works with Cressida Dick every day.

“The Home Secretary has full confidence in her to do her job.”

 

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