Comment: Mayor and Met

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The Mayor, Boris Johnson, has been reflecting on the democratic deficit in the policing of London. He says he would like to be able to sack the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police; he would also like a decisive voice in how the Met chief is appointed. The Mayor's powers are limited: he can help shape the Met's budget and appoint a minority of the members of the Metropolitan Police Authority but it is the Home Secretary who appoints the Met Commissioner, the most important police appointment in the country - and it is hard to see any Home Secretary forgoing this right.

But for all that, Mr Johnson is right to point out the case for the Mayor to have more effective authority in policing - after all, crime was a prominent element in the mayoral campaign. And while few people would want the Mayor meddling in day-to-day operational policing, the power to fire a Commissioner would certainly make clear where real authority lies. The chief objection to the Mayor hiring the Commissioner is that the responsibilities of the job impinge on anti-terrorism strategy, which is a national as well as London concern and one in which any Home Secretary has an interest. Yet the Tories have given a good deal of attention to the ways in which power over matters like policing can be delegated to local communities. Giving power over the Commissioner to an elected Mayor of London would be a strong example of that principle in action.