Labour under pressure to sack UK Metropolitan Police Commissioner

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair was under mounting pressure today as the Tories urged Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to fire him.

The demand came as he continued to defy calls to quit after his force was found guilty of serious failures leading to the death of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.

Ms Smith backed Blair, insisting he retained her full confidence, while Mayor of London Ken Livingstone attacked the “irresponsible politicians” urging the commissioner’s resignation.

But shadow home secretary David Davis upped the ante with a letter to the Home Secretary asking her to reconsider her support for Blair “in the interests of public safety and confidence”.

Mr Davis went on: “We now need the right leadership, at every level, in order to restore public confidence.

“The judge, opposition parties and the Mayor of London have acknowledged the systemic failure for which only the Commissioner can bear responsibility.

“I put it to you, in the strongest terms, that the most important and immediate action that the Home Secretary can and should take, in these circumstances, is to replace Sir Ian Blair with a commissioner who can command the force’s confidence, restore the public’s trust and protect the nation’s security.”

The force was fined £175,000 (€251,730) and ordered to pay £385,000 (€553,806) costs yesterday, after being convicted by an Old Bailey jury of exposing the public to risk.

The trial heard there was a “catastrophic” series of 19 key failures in police procedure which led to Mr de Menezes being shot by armed officers on a train at Stockwell Tube station on July 22, 2005.

He was suspected at the time of being one of the terrorists responsible for the failed suicide bomb attacks on the London transport network the day before.

The Home Secretary said today she wanted to learn the lessons of the case but insisted that Blair and the Metropolitan Police were keeping the public safe from terrorism.

“I think that my job, and that of other responsible politicians, is to support those people who are risking their lives to keep this country safe from terrorism,” she added.

Mr Livingstone said that Blair’s resignation would intensify the concerns of officers that they could be hauled up in court on health and safety charges.

“The work done by Sir Ian and the anti-terrorist squad has been outstanding and Londoners are deeply in their debt,” Mr Livingstone said.

“I wouldn’t put the irresponsible politicians attacking the police commissioner within a million miles of running the kind of anti-terror operations London has had to deal with over the last few years, which have seen many Londoners’ lives saved and terrorist cells closed down.”