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Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair was involved in a row today over whether he had been cleared of misconduct allegations.
He claimed that an independent investigation by former chief inspector of constabulary Sir Ronnie Flanagan found “absolutely no evidence of dishonesty” in work Scotland Yard gave to a consultancy firm run by his friend and skiing partner Andy Miller.
Sir Ronnie was asked by the Metropolitan Police Authority to investigate business deals given to Impact Plus, later Hitachi Consulting, Mr Miller's company.
The report was passed to the MPA — but it voted to keep it secret, prompting Sir Ian to release details of three of Sir Ronnie's conclusions in a letter which exonerated him of dishonesty. But the MPA said it rejected one part of
Sir Ronnie's report and issued its own statement to say there was no “exoneration of Sir Ian's conduct”.
Sources said the former Commissioner would have faced disciplinary action if he had not quit last year.
A source said: “The possibility of disciplinary proceedings is closed because Sir Ian is no longer a serving officer. If he were still serving it would be a different scenario.”
The dispute centres on one of Sir Ronnie's conclusions. He wrote: “There is no basis upon which police misconduct proceedings could be recommended against anyone involved in this investigation. It should be noted that this conclusion has nothing whatever to do with Sir Ian Blair's decision to retire. It would apply with equal force, should he still be serving.”
It was rejected by a committee of the MPA behind closed doors. Sir Ian said he was angry that the MPA did not accept the conclusion there was “no basis” for police misconduct proceedings.
Scotland Yard's acting deputy commissioner Tim Godwin, 49, was confirmed in the role today. He took over temporarily in January when Sir Paul Stephenson became commissioner.
Reader views (4)
Well said, Keith Lonsdale. We are ruled, as you say, by a bunch of Britain (especially England)-hating, Leninist/Stalinist, fifth-columnist, ban-the-bomb, IRA- supporting lefties who constantly voted against the Prevention of Terrorism Act, when we actually needed one!
Any excuse to destroy what decent people hold dear, even going as far as to import countless millions of people to justify building on green belt and disfiguring the countryside with hideous wind farms. They hate us and hold us in contempt.
- Vanessa M, Twickenham, England, 16/07/2009 16:37
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What else would you expect?
The Police investigate the Police.
Police State UK shames banana republics in Africa.
- Reuben Camara, Republic of Morecambe, UK, 16/07/2009 13:51
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The Metropolitan Police Authority has now made it explicit that their conclusions "do not amount to an exoneration" of Sir Ian.
As I have made clear in my comment at http://www.lordtobyharris.org.uk/metropolitan-police-authority-makes-it-clear-it-was-not-an-exoneration-of-sir-ian-blair/ this should be taken extremely seriously.
Presumably, what Sir Ian was trying to do was declare ‘victory’ or at least proclaim ‘exoneration’, in the hope that journalists would not look at what the MPA had actually said. And this was presumably why his statement was made so late in the day and without giving the MPA any warning that it was due to be made.
- Lord Toby Harris, London, UK, 16/07/2009 13:08
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The very fact that he was investigated in the first place is indicative of how this left-liberal apologist is thought of outside of NuLiebour's circle of politically-correct apparachiks.
Bliar2 was the biggest single catastrophe to hit British policing in living memory. His departure could not have come soon enough.
The damage done to the Metropolitan Police by this individual is overshadowed only by the wider damage that has been inflicted upon our criminal justice system by the cunrrent Britain-hating government, the very same one that appointed him in the first place.
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster, 16/07/2009 12:36
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