Race to succeed Hogan-Howe as Met police chief gets under way

Counter-terrorism boss Mark Rowley and ‘David Cameron’s favourite police chief’ Sara Thornton in the running for top job

Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism official and a police leader who was David Cameron’s favourite chief constable have emerged as the most likely candidates to replace Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe as the Met police commissioner.

On Thursday Hogan-Howe announced his retirement seven months early, insisting it had nothing to do with tensions with his new political masters.

Hogan-Howe completed a full five-year term this month – the first Metropolitan police commissioner not to be ousted from office in a decade – and was expected to continue for another year. He will now retire in February, halfway through the one-year extension to his original contract.

His announcement came ahead of the release next month of a report on the Met’s handling of historical sex abuse cases, which is expected to be critical, though probably not of the commissioner. The Met is facing £400m of budget cuts by 2020, on top of significant cuts it has already undergone.

One police source said the commissioner’s “long-term aim was to go at a time of his own choosing”, and that was what he had done. The lack of an obvious successor led to speculation that Hogan-Howe might have stayed on for a year or so longer, and his early departure created speculation that he had a difficult relationship with new mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

Among those who may apply for the £276,000-a-year post are Mark Rowley, an assistant commissioner of the Met who oversees counter-terrorism. In that role he has got to know key politicians who will choose the next commissioner, namely the current home secretary, Amber Rudd, Theresa May and Khan.

The other main contender is Sara Thornton, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council and former head of the Thames Valley force, bordering London. She been described as Cameron’s favourite police chief, with his constituency being in her force area.

Technically the home secretary makes the choice, having only to take regard of the London’s mayor’s views. But the prime minister will have a large if not decisive say, and the choice of the next Met commissioner presents a chance to bring more radical reform to policing and its biggest regional force.

Khan, elected for Labour in May, said Hogan-Howe had decided himself to stand down. He said: “I didn’t want him to go, we worked incredibly well together. But I am grateful he gave me and the home secretary sufficient notice.”

There had been some tension between the new Labour mayor and the commissioner, who was appointed in 2011 by Khan’s Conservative predecessor, Boris Johnson, and May, then home secretary. They wanted a “crimefighter”, and someone who would not habitually criticise swingeing government changes to policing that officers hated.

The outgoing Met commissioner said the force needed a “fresh approach” and a leader with new ideas. Hogan-Howe told LBC Radio: “Five years is quite a long time in this job. I’m not complaining but I work 70-odd hours a week. I love it and I love being at work.”

He said the demands “brings its own stress and strains” and he had wanted his departure date to be a surprise. He said: “I don’t think any leader should announce their departure. All that happens is your power fritters away.

“So I think those people need new ideas and a new thought. I think I came with certain ideas and I hope they’ve been good ideas. But I think at times you need somebody with fresh ones, and I think if you’re not careful it’s really hard for your own staff to turn round and say, ‘You know, you’re really passionate as I am about things like automatic number plate recognition, but Grandad, things have moved on.’”

Tensions surfaced recently with Khan, who was elected in May, over the issue of spit hoods – pieces of fabric and mesh placed over detainees’ heads to stop them spitting at or biting officers. Khan put pressure on the Met to reverse a decision to introduce the hoods this month. The force was planning to deploy them in custody areas, but after the Guardian revealed the decision, the mayor’s team was unhappy because it had not been consulted.

Hogan-Howe said last week he accepted there had been a lack of sensitivity over the decision and regretted that Khan had not been told. The mayor is supposed to oversee the Met, shaping its strategic priorities while not interfering in its operations.

Hogan-Howe said: “This was our decision prior to the mayor and deputy mayor arriving. We didn’t raise it with the new mayor or deputy mayor. I’ve already acknowledged that probably, with retrospect, we didn’t anticipate the response because we didn’t think it was such a big issue. But clearly for people it has been.”

Hogan-Howe became commissioner on 12 September 2011, after London had been hit by the worst riots in modern English history. Crime fell by 18% during most of his time in office, though some categories are now rising.

His predecessor, Sir Paul Stephenson, was forced from the job as a result of the phone-hacking scandal, and before him, Sir Ian Blair quit after he was told he had lost Johnson’s confidence.

Hogan-Howe’s biggest achievement may well have been to show that the job of Met commissioner is not impossible, even though it is beset by political hurdles. The last commissioner of the Met to complete their term was Sir John Stevens in 2005.

Colleagues say Hogan-Howe is politically astute. To meet the big reduction in government funding, the Met will soon move out of its current headquarters to a new building. It has cut £600m from its budget and Hogan-Howe, after much deliberation, spoke out against the Conservative government that appointed him.

Hogan-Howe was unpopular in some sections of the media for the pursuit of journalists over phone-hacking and bribery claims. He also faced calls to quit over Operation Midland, an inquiry into claims VIPs had abused children decades ago. The operation is alleged to have spiralled out of control and collapsed without unearthing evidence of guilt.

One of those investigated, the former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, said: “He will walk away with a barrow-load of pension funds. I am left destitute. Is there any wonder that I believe Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe should leave in shame and should have left many months ago?

“He is a disgrace to the police force of Britain. He has wrought havoc on the Metropolitan Police Service, whose good reputation he and other senior officers have tarnished in the last few years.”

Under Hogan-Howe’s tenure, the Met successfully policed the 2012 London Olympics, but the officer who oversaw the Games soon left the organisation because Hogan-Howe had a particular vision of whom he wanted in his top team.

The Met is regarded as having done a good job in the face of the heightened terrorist threat, although the government has considered passing the responsibility to the relatively new National Crime Agency, an idea the Met has so far successfully resisted.

Met staff morale hit record lows in 2014 but the force maintained officer numbers at 32,000 as it restructured and tried to adapt to the changing nature of crime, particularly cyber offences.

Rudd, the home secretary, said: “Sir Bernard has had a long and distinguished career as a determined crimefighter and an inspirational senior officer. He has shown remarkable and consistent dedication to public service.”

Contributor

Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent

The GuardianTramp

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