Cressida Dick quit Met after Sadiq Khan's ultimatum to sack scandal-hit officers
17 February 2022, 08:29 | Updated: 17 February 2022, 08:38
Cressida Dick quit the Met after being ordered by Sadiq Khan to sack the officers involved in the Charing Cross police station scandal or face suspension herself.
The commissioner resigned last week hours after saying she would stay on after losing the confidence of the Mayor following a string of high-profile crisis to hit the beleaguered force.
While Mr Khan categorically denies threatening the outgoing chief, Dame Cressida is said to have spoken of it in a video call last week, where she explained her departure to more than 100 officers, the Times reported.
She told them how the mayor was left furious by the revelations that officers from Charing Cross had exchanged violently racist, misogynist and homophobic messages exchanged by officers.
He was particularly angry that nine officers kept their jobs and two had even been promoted, the paper reported.
Dame Cressida is then said to have tried to explain how the police watchdog was responsible for the process and officers who had only been charged with lower level disciplinary offences could not be sacked.
However, this failed to satisfy the mayor, who would swiftly then announce his lack of faith in her ability to run the Met.
Cressida Dick resigns with ‘huge sadness and regret’
Her resignation has since seen already-strained tensions between the force and City Hall pushed further, with some senior figures said to be concerned over what they believe to be political interference.
Earlier this week the Met Police Federation declared it has "no faith'" in Mr Khan after his "very public ousting" of Dame Cressida warning morale among officers had hit "rock bottom".
The body representing more than 31,000 rank-and-file police officers claimed made Mr Khan's actions have 'undermined the professional, dedicated and incredibly difficult work of tens of thousands of hard-working and brave police officers from across the capital'.
