Met crisis is one of leadership, not race

It is difficult to judge the specific merits of his case, since we know too few of the details, but it is entirely possible that his eclipse as Olympic policing supremo, the centrepiece of his race discrimination claim, was, just as is claimed, the consequence of a Home Office policy decision that could have happened with anyone in charge.

And Ghaffur's extraordinary behaviour, holding melodramatic press conferences to denounce his superiors, might seem to confirm that he lacks the judgment needed for promotion. It is certainly hard to see it as anything other than damaging to the cause of diversity in the police.

Yet the Met, and the Metropolitan Police Authority, which makes the force's senior appointments, clearly do have a race problem. Even if Ghaffur's claims turn out to be overdone, several other senior black officers have been denied promotion too. They can't all be showboating.

With one sole exception, Ali Dizaei, and only after repeated attempts, no black officer has been promoted to senior command (ACPO) rank in the Met for many years, though there are several formidable candidates. The Met's only other non-white ACPO-ranker, Commander Shabir Hussein, is also taking out an employment tribunal on race grounds, though sensibly with much less public hoopla.

Lower down, there has been little progress to a more representative force (black fully-warranted officers are up from seven per cent to 8.2 per cent of the Met, in three years). Some black officers, such as a sergeant, Gurpal Virdi, have been subjected to treatment which looks like victimisation. Alfred John, chair of the Met Black Police Association, describes the changes made since the supposedly seminal Macpherson report as no more than "window-dressing".

What all this adds up to is not Ghaffur's lurid charge that Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner, and Len Duvall, the MPA chair, are racist; but that they are inadequate. This is essentially a crisis not of race, but of leadership.

Though he proclaims himself a "diversity champion" - and, I'm sure, sincerely wants to be one - Sir Ian has been quite unable to put his fine words into effect, because he lacks the power inside the Met to do so. Mr Duvall, for his part, has consistently-taken the role of Sir Ian's cheerleader, rather than his actual job - Sir Ian's employer.

Ghaffur's behaviour is only made possible by Sir Ian's shattered authority, and is itself eroding that authority further by the day. This crisis simply could not happen under a Commissioner who was in full control of his force.

The open warfare between Blair and Ghaffur, which would be bad enough in an organisation making paperclips, is beyond embarrassing in a body responsible for public safety. The Home Secretary, the MPA and Duvall need to recognise that the credibility of the Met is more important than the career of either man.