Anti-terror job for 'safe pair of hands'

The Chief Constable of Surrey took up the £168,000-a-year post in the wake of Mr Hayman's early retirement following a series of accusations involving lavish expenses claims and questions over his relationship with a woman civil servant. He was cleared of any wrong-doing over the expenses claims.

Mr Quick, a father of five, joined the Met in 1978 and started his career as a Pc in Lambeth before becoming a detective based at Brixton. He worked his way up the force to become a commander for street policing and later head of the Met's anti-corruption squad.

Joining Surrey as deputy chief in 2003 he was swiftly promoted to the top job a year later.

Mr Quick, who studied at Exeter University before going on to gain a diploma in applied criminology from Cambridge University, has a degree in business administration and recently completed a degree in strategic leadership.

As Surrey chief he championed safer neighbourhood schemes and challenged the validity of government targets for policing and was generally considered a success. He was appointed to Assistant Commissioner (Specialist Operations) on 1 March, a post Sir Ian Blair once described as "one of the toughest jobs in UK policing".

The post does not generally attract headlines but he came under intense political scrutiny over the Damian Green arrest and the raid on the Tory MP's House of Commons office.

As head of Special Operations Mr Quick was in overall charge of the inquiry though the arrest was also sanctioned by his boss Sir Paul Stephenson.

Mr Quick applied to be Commissioner of the Met but did not make the shortlist of four.