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Institutional racism 'still a problem for Met police'
Paul Waugh01.07.08
Senior MPs declared today that the Met was still dogged by "institutional" race problems more than 10 years after the inquiry into Stephen Lawrence's murder.
Home Office minister Tony McNulty was urged by the Commons home affairs select committee to intervene to sort out the row between Met chief Sir Ian Blair and Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, who is considering action against the force for racial bias.
Committee chairman Keith Vaz asked Mr McNulty why senior officers could be refusing to speak to each other more than a decade after the Macpherson report found the force guilty of racism in its structures.
The MPs were quizzing the minister about the knife murder on Sunday of teenager Ben Kinsella, 16, and demanding fresh action to combat youth violence.
In her first Parliamentary session, Cherie Blair appeared before the committee to explain her own work on a commission to tackle gun, gang and knife crime.
• Too many police officers have been taken off Britain's streets, a chief constable warned today. Roger Baker, head of Essex police, said he can see the day when there are virtually no officers pounding the beat.
