THE METROPOLITAN police, still reeling from the resignations of Commissioner Paul Stephenson and top anti-terrorist officer John Yates, is to face multiple ethics investigations, British home secretary Theresa May said.
As well as internal inquiries, four senior officers, including Mr Stephenson and Mr Yates, are to face an inquiry from the independent police complaints commission, while the force as a whole is to be investigated by the inspector of constabulary.
The home secretary’s announcement came just hours after assistant commissioner John Yates had resigned – minutes before he was about to be suspended by the Met – over his failure to reopen the force’s phone-hacking investigation in 2009.
The home secretary said the inspector of constabulary would investigate allegations “of undue influence, inappropriate contractual arrangements and other abuses of power in police relationships with the media and other parties”.
Mr Yates, furious over being forced to quit, last night said he continued to face “a huge amount of inaccurate, ill-informed and on occasion downright malicious gossip” that would have been “a significant distraction” if he had stayed on as the head of counter-terrorism. “It is a matter of great personal frustration that despite my efforts, on a number of occasions, to explain the true facts surrounding my role in these matters since 2009, there remains confusion about what exactly took place,” he said.
Regarding next year’s Olympic Games, he went on: “I would never forgive myself if I was unable to give total commitment to the task of protecting London and the country during this period. I simply cannot let this situation continue.”
Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who played a key role in forcing both men out, said it was “time to get to the bottom of all these questions”, while a change at the top now would “give a new commissioner plenty of time to get his or her feet under the desk”.
Today, Mr Stephenson will appear before the Commons home affairs committee, with some speculation last night that he could launch criticisms of prime minister David Cameron.
However, the majority of the attention will be focused on the appearance of News Corporation’s Rupert Murdoch and his son James, along with former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, who spent 12 hours with police on Sunday.
Her solicitor, Stephen Parkinson, said detectives had never made any allegations against her, but they had inflicted “enormous reputational damage” upon her before releasing her on bail until October. “In time they will have to give their account of their actions,” he said.
The inquiries facing the Met are likely to hamstring the force for months, if not years, and will complicate the ability of senior officers to enforce major cutbacks and prepare for the Olympics.
Besides investigating Mr Stephenson and Mr Yates, who last night denied he had got former News of the World’s Neil Wallis’s daughter a job at the force, the independent police complaints commission will inquire into the conduct of Andy Hayman and Peter Clarke.
Mr Clarke was head of counter-terrorism in 2005 and led the first hacking investigation, but he went no further after prosecuting News of the Worldjournalist Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, saying he had too many terrorist threats to deal with. Mr Hayman was sharply criticised at last week's home affairs committee for taking a job as a columnist with Mr Murdoch's London Timesafter he left the force, and for failing to supervise the hacking investigation.
