By Tony O’Reilly-
Dame Cressida Dick “felt intimidated” into stepping down as Metropolitan Police commissioner after an ultimatum from Sadiq Khan, according to a review.
The former police chief was forced to quit in February when the mayor of London said he had lost confidence in her leadership. Cressida, the first woman to lead the UK’s biggest police force faced much criticism over the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer last year, and a series of other scandals associated with the police.
Priti Patel asked the then chief inspector of constabulary Sir Tom Winsor to carry out a review into the handling of Dame Cressida’s exit.
The chief inspector said: “In my view, in this case, the commissioner faced political pressure from the mayor to resign, that pressure being of a character and intensity which was effectively his calling on her to leave office, outside the established statutory procedure and contrary to the wider legislative scheme.”
Winsor said Khan, through his chief of staff, gave Dick an “ultimatum” on 10 February, adding: “If the commissioner did not attend a meeting and convince the mayor that her plan of 4 February 2022 would be improved, he would make a statement to the media.
“That statement would make clear that he no longer had trust and confidence in the commissioner, and that he intended to start the statutory process for her removal.
“When the commissioner did not attend that meeting, the mayor’s chief of staff reiterated the mayor’s position and gave her less than one hour to decide what to do. She felt intimidated by this process into stepping aside, and I can understand that.”
Responding to the report, Khan said: “Londoners will be able to see that this review is clearly biased and ignores the facts.
“On the former commissioner’s watch, trust in the police fell to record lows after a litany of terrible scandals. What happened was simple – I lost confidence in the former commissioner’s ability to make the changes needed and she then chose to stand aside.
“Londoners elected me to hold the Met commissioner to account and that’s exactly what I have done. I make absolutely no apology for demanding better for London and for putting the interests of the city I love first. I will continue working with the new commissioner to reduce crime and to rebuild trust and confidence in the police.”
Dame Cressida, the first woman to lead the UK’s biggest police force, also faced criticism over the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer last year, and a series of other scandals.
Dame Cressida said the report had found Mr Khan “did not follow due process and at times his behaviour was oppressive, unreasonable, entirely unacceptable and unfair”.
The review, by Sir Thomas Winsor, into Dame Cressida’s departure from the force in February also found due process was not followed. Mr Khan said the review was “clearly biased” and “ignores the facts”.
Dame Cressida said she would step aside after evidence emerged officers at Charing Cross police station had sent racist, sexist and homophobic messages to one another.
The report found the mayor was “particularly concerned” one of the officers who sent the offensive messages had been in the same team as Wayne Couzens, the former Met officer who was jailed for life for murdering Sarah Everard in 2021.
The report, written by the former chief inspector of constabulary Sir Tom Winsor, said: “In my view, in this case, the commissioner faced political pressure from the mayor to resign, that pressure being of a character and intensity which was effectively his calling on her to leave office, outside the established statutory procedure and contrary to the wider legislative scheme.”
Winsor said Khan, through his chief of staff, gave Dick an “ultimatum” on 10 February, adding: “If the commissioner did not attend a meeting and convince the mayor that her plan of 4 February 2022 would be improved, he would make a statement to the media.
“That statement would make clear that he no longer had trust and confidence in the commissioner, and that he intended to start the statutory process for her removal.
“When the commissioner did not attend that meeting, the mayor’s chief of staff reiterated the mayor’s position and gave her less than one hour to decide what to do. She felt intimidated by this process into stepping aside, and I can understand that.” Mr Khan told Dame Cressida in private that this was her “last chance saloon” and she needed to “throw everything into this.
In his report, Sir Thomas concluded: “Due process was not followed by the mayor of London and the mayor’s office for policing and crime in their taking of actions which led, on 10 February 2022, to Dame Cressida Dick stepping aside as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.
“Those acting on behalf of the mayor told the commissioner that he intended publicly to announce his loss of trust and confidence in her, and that he intended to commence the statutory removal process, on the afternoon of February 10 2022.
Priti Patel asked the then chief inspector of constabulary Sir Tom Winsor to carry out a review into the handling of Dame Cressida’s exit.
Mr Khan said the review was “clearly biased” and “ignores the facts”.
Dame Cressida said the report had found Mr Khan “did not follow due process and at times his behaviour was oppressive, unreasonable, entirely unacceptable and unfair”.
Sir Tom’s paper also notes that the mayor’s actions were “not in accordance with the relevant legislation”.
In his 116-page report, Sir Tom said the mayor had given the commissioner “an ultimatum” to attend a meeting where she would have to convince him about her plans for the force, otherwise he would release a statement “making it clear that he no longer had trust and confidence” and would begin the “statutory process” to remove her.
“When the commissioner did not attend that meeting, the mayor’s chief of staff reiterated the mayor’s position and gave her less than one hour to decide what to do.”
He said she was “intimidated by this process into stepping aside”, and “the commissioner felt that, in the interests of Londoners and the Metropolitan Police, she had to ‘step aside’, as a prelude to her eventual resignation”.
Sir Tom also noted that hours before Dame Cressida announced her resignation, communications between the mayor’s chief of staff and the Met Police chief of corporate services were “unjustifiably politically brutal”.
“For any public servant – least of all one so senior and long-serving – to be given under an hour to decide whether to resign or to challenge the mayor’s position was entirely unacceptable.”
He described the timetable “imposed” on the commissioner as “wholly arbitrary”, adding there had been “no explanation why the commissioner’s position had to be publicly resolved in such a short space of time”, giving her little time to consult with others.
“The mayor was entirely incapable in interview of explaining why he believed he had to make a public statement on the commissioner’s position on the evening of the 10 February, 2022.”
Oppressive and Unreasonable
Sir Tom said in his opinion the Mayor and MOPAC’s actions were “oppressive” and “unreasonable”.
“The pressure to resign was considerable, and it succeeded,” he added.
In June – months after Dame Cressida quit – the Met was placed into an advanced stage of monitoring, in what the home secretary described as “special measures”.
Ms Patel said it was clear to her the Met Police was falling short in getting “the basics right”.
Sir Tom Winsor says the mayor had effectively “constructively dismissed” the most senior police officer in the UK.
He wrote that his staff had been “unjustifiably politically brutal”, that they had imposed a “wholly arbitrary” timetable, and there could be “no justification” for the mayor’s “unfair” conduct or his “oppressive and unreasonable treatment” of Dame Cressida Dick.
In an attempt to undermine the impact of the review, Sadiq Khan said Sir Tom has a history of supporting Conservative Party politicians and policies and is “clearly biased”
He said the review was “clearly biased” and “ignores the facts”.