Exclusive

Boris Johnson refuses to say if Cressida Dick is 'right' for Met Commissioner

28 July 2021, 10:38

Boris Johnson refuses to back Met Commissioner Cressida Dick

By Fiona Jones

This is the moment Boris Johnson repeatedly refused to answer whether Dame Cressida Dick is the right person to be Met Commissioner.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Nick Ferrari, the Prime Minister was grilled over an abundance of issues, including the pay freeze for police officers and the Government's Covid travel policy.

Read more: 'Getting jabs will help, not hinder you' as England moves out of lockdown, PM tells LBC

Boris Johnson outlined to LBC's Nick Ferrari the method he would use to combat county lines and drug-based criminality: "You need to be dealing with their problems, you need to be putting money into rehab, into their mental health, away from the disaster that they're making of their lives.

"You've got to come down like a ton of bricks."

Nick commented that Dame Cressida "is not doing this", which the Prime Minister refused to acknowledge.

Mr Johnson continued: "What I'm trying to get is a twin track strategy: come down tough on the county lines drug trains: wrap them up, roll them up, we've done 1,000 already, but also look after the chronic drug users, the tragic characters that get involved."

Nick questioned: "Is Dame Cressida Dick the woman to push this through?"

"I think that she's a formidable police officer," Mr Johnson replied and, again failing to directly answer Nick's repeated question, said it was a "matter for the Mayor of London and the Home Secretary."

PM: I want to pay police more but we're facing a tough time

Alongside being grilled about the Met's chief, Nick pushed the Prime Minister on police pay after the Home Office's decision to freeze police earning £24,000 or more between this year and 2022. Those earning less than this amount will receive an additional £250.

"You’ll know that any police officer who’s earning above £24,000 per annum gets no pay rise," Nick said.

"Anything below that gets £250 per year. That’s about 60-something pence a day. It’s the cost of a Mars bar. I know we want a thin blue line, but this is ridiculous."

Mr Johnson replied: "The objective is to thicken the blue line with more officers and that’s what we’re doing."

He added: "No one would want to pay our fantastic police more than I would. We’re just going through a tough time financially for the government and I think most people do understand that.

"I just ask people to recognise that, but also that the government is doing what it can to expand police numbers as fast as we can."

Watch in full: Nick Ferrari interviews Prime Minister Boris Johnson

More Nick Ferrari

See more More Nick Ferrari

Exclusive
The Chancellor was speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast

Chancellor ‘doesn’t know’ salary of new chairman tasked with ensuring government ‘value for money'

Transparency over Southport stabbings key to avoiding 'deep public mistrust in the criminal justice system', says Jenrick

Transparency over Southport stabbings key to avoiding 'deep public mistrust' in criminal justice system, says Jenrick

Exclusive
The government has introduced its football governance bill.

'We're on the same side': Minister denies feud with Premier League over Football Governance Bill

Exclusive
Protest sign reading Danger water pollution, this water is polluted with raw sewage. The responsible party is Thames Water. River Wey, Guildford, UK

Government warns demand for water could outstrip supply as they launch review into 'broken' sector

Nick Ferrari.

'He'll look over his shoulder for the rest of his life': Concern for Martyn Blake's privacy long overdue

Exclusive
'No one gutsy enough to address this': Mylene Klass calls on government to introduce paid miscarriage leave.

Government not 'gutsy' enough to implement paid miscarriage leave claims Myleene Klass

Exclusive
David Cameron speaks to LBC

David Cameron calls for UK to sanction two Israeli ministers as change on arms embargo 'didn't satisfy anybody'

'I wouldn't do it again': Jenrick suggests regret for painting over murals at children’s asylum centre.

'I wouldn't do it again': Robert Jenrick says he regrets ordering workers to paint over murals at children’s asylum centre

Exclusive
Where did all the fish go? Feargal Sharkey uncovers dangerous blue-green algae plaguing River Wye

Where did all the fish go? Feargal Sharkey uncovers dangerous blue-green algae plaguing River Wye

UK troops in Cyprus 'ready to act' says defence secretary noting forces already play 'important' role in preventing escalation

UK troops in Cyprus 'ready to act' with forces playing an 'important' role in preventing escalation

Exclusive
LBC has uncovered levels of E Coli in Britain’s rivers over fifty times higher than levels recommended by the Environment Agency, in the latest edition of Feargal on Friday.

Feargal Sharkey exposes dangerous levels of E. coli in British rivers

Exclusive
Suspending arm sales to Israel will have weakened UK's 'hand' in Washington, Ex-armed forces minister says.

Suspending arms sales to Israel weakened UK's 'hand' in Washington, ex-armed forces minister says

Tory leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat refuses to commit to reversing Labour's cuts to the winter fuel payment

Tory leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat refuses to commit to reversing Labour's cuts to the winter fuel payment

Exclusive
XL Bullies killed 16 people in 2023.

XL Bullies have created a 'new burden on policing' as forces have to look after dogs waiting for court hearings

Exclusive
LBC's Nick Ferrari and Feargal Sharkey are teaming up to take a look at Britain's waterways

Nick Ferrari and Feargal Sharkey join forces to investigate the state of Britain's polluted waterways

Exclusive
Israel Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely spoke with LBC's Nick Ferrari.

Two-state solution 'far away' because '80 per cent of Palestinians support Hamas', says Israeli Ambassador