Sir Ian Blair 'broke law'

The Tories demanded Home Secretary Jacqui Smith sack the Commissioner over his attempt to block an independent inquiry into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes.

Shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve has written to Ms Smith to allege that Sir Ian acted in breach of his statutory duty to call in the Independent Police Complaints Commission after police killed the Brazilian at Stockwell Tube station.

In the letter, a copy of which has been obtained by the Evening Standard, Mr Grieve claimed that Sir Ian "placed himself above the law" by breaching both the 2002 Police Reform Act and the 2004 Police (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations.

The independent investigation into the shooting went ahead only after the Met chief backed down under pressure from the Home Office, the Tories said.

Mr Grieve demanded to know whether Home Office officials had told the IPCC to stay out of the case.

Crucially, Mr Grieve claimed that Sir Ian's intervention led to significant delays in the IPCC inquiry that left the public in the dark about key aspects of the shooting.

It was a full week after the incident before the independent watchdog could appeal for witnesses, during which time the surveillance log of firearms officers was tampered with.

Mr de Menezes was shot dead on 22 July 2005 by officers who believed he was a suicide bomber. Twenty-four hours earlier, Islamic extremists had tried to set off bombs on buses and Tube trains in the capital.

Sir Ian wrote to Home Office permanent secretary Sir John Gieve to tell him he would not allow an independent investigation of the shooting - as required by the law - within a day of the incident.

He instructed his officers not to refer the shooting to the IPCC and to deny it access to the investigation scene.

The Tories point out that although Sir Ian eventually changed his mind, it took five days for the watchdog to formally begin its own probe. Mr Grieve's letter claims that the delays have undermined the Met because they denied the officers involved in the shooting the chance to refute allegations against them.

"In blocking the IPCC investigation, he [Sir Ian] placed himself above the law and in clear breach of his statutory duties and the will of Parliament. The effect has been to discredit the Metropolitan Police on the basis of inferences that may not be true and cannot now be properly resolved," he wrote.

A police spokesman said Sir Ian made clear last week he would "not make the same decision again in similar circumstances". But his decision was made "with the best of motives that the rigorous investigation needed to be fully co-ordinated with the needs of the counter terrorism investigation to track down the suicide bombers".