Dame Cressida Dick ‘felt intimidated’ into stepping down as Met Police chief, Sadiq Khan didn’t follow due process: Review

The first woman to head the force quit in February this year after the mayor said he had lost confidence in her leadership.

• Chandrashekar Bhat
• 02 September, 2022

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By: Chandrashekar Bhat

Dame Cressida Dick “felt intimidated” into stepping down as the chief of the Metropolitan Police after an ultimatum from London mayor Sadiq Khan, a review into the circumstances leading to her resignation has concluded.

Dame Cressida – the first woman to head the Met Police – quit as its commissioner in February this year after the mayor said he had lost confidence in her leadership.

In his review, former chief inspector of constabulary Sir Tom Winsor opined that the police commissioner “faced political pressure from the mayor to resign”.

However, Khan dismissed the report as “clearly biased”, and said it “ignores the facts”.

The review, commissioned by Home Secretary Priti Patel, said “due process was not followed” by the mayor and his office while taking actions that led Dame Dick to step aside.

“The Commissioner is not an employee of the mayor, but she was in effect constructively dismissed by him,” it said.

“Those acting on behalf of the Mayor told the Commissioner that the Mayor intended publicly to announce his loss of trust and confidence in her and that he intended to commence the statutory removal process, on the afternoon of 10 February 2022. The Commissioner was given a very short period in which to consider her position following that news”, it said.

“She was left in a position whereby she felt, even if others might have felt differently, that she had no option but to announce that she would step aside, in part to protect the Metropolitan Police itself”, the review said.

“The circumstances in which she reached that view had been largely created by the actions of the mayor and his staff.”

Patel said the Home Office would consider all of the findings of the report and bring forward any further changes “we deem necessary once the findings and recommendations have been fully considered.”

Dame Dick hoped the review would help create a sounder foundation for her successors.

“At all times I sought to uphold the law and act ethically and with goodwill, professionalism, openness and trust”, the former commissioner said.

But she had been criticised over the murder of a woman, Sarah Everard, by a serving Met officer last year.