Mayor 'too supportive' of Met chief

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Brian Paddick, who quit the force after clashing with Commissioner Sir Ian Blair over the death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, said the mayor ought to be a "critical friend".

The former deputy assistant commissioner, once Britain's most senior openly-gay policeman, confirmed he was pondering a bid to become the Liberal Democrat candidate for mayor.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I am a little bit concerned that the Mayor, rather than being an unequivocal supporter of the Commissioner and the Metropolitan Police, should actually be a critical friend.

"At the end of the day, Londoners are not 100% satisfied with the Met and I think, as the people's representative, the Mayor should say: 'Look, you need to raise your game'. I think a lot of people will be very surprised at Ken's complete support for the Met and for the Commissioner, particularly in the circumstances of the Stockwell shooting."

The recent Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report into the death of Mr de Menezes - killed by Met officers who mistook him for a bomber in 2005 - confirmed Mr Paddick's account that close aides of Sir Ian knew within hours of rumours that police had shot the wrong man.

The Commissioner escaped serious criticism in the report but was accused of being "almost totally uninformed" of the mistake - despite it being well known in his force within hours.

Mr Paddick rejected criticism levelled at him by Mr Livingstone for not informing the Commissioner himself.

"Ken Livingstone doesn't understand the culture of the police service; he wasn't in that meeting," he said. "The person who told me that the person who had been shot was Jean Charles de Menezes was in that meeting with the Commissioner.

"I didn't think it was my place to trump a more senior officer and come out with information that that senior officer had told me. I wrongly assumed that the Commissioner must have known. I thought there must be some legitimate reason for not mentioning the man's name."