Former Chief of Police Scotland and controversial figure is now the Caretaker Head of Britain’s Largest Police Force.
Sir Steve House, Home Secretary, will head the Metropolitan Police until an appropriate candidate has been found for the role of commissioner.
He will be Dame Cressida’s second-in command and lead the force through one of its most difficult spells.
Since 2018, Sir Steve is the assistant commissioner to Scotland Yard. He was previously chief constable of Police Scotland, which was merged with Police Scotland in 2012.
Police Scotland under his leadership was fraught with controversy. Two people died in an accident on the M9 motorway.
He was effectively sacked by Nicola Sturgeon over the incident, her former aide Noel Dolan claimed in a bombshell book last year.
In April, the embattled Police Chief (left) will resign and be replaced by Sir Stephen House, Deputy Commissioner (right).
Priti Patel (pictured this month) has confirmed today that Sir Stephen will take over the job until a successor in the summer.
John Yuill, Lamara Bel and John Yuill remained inside their car for three consecutive days. Police Scotland called the non-emergency number of Police Scotland to report an accident. Miss Bell, who was alive and well when the emergency crews arrived, later died at hospital.
Following the incident, Sir Steve resigned and retired as a result.
Priti Patel announced yesterday Dame Cressida will leave Britain’s largest police force sometime next month – with the process of selecting her successor not yet formally underway.
Miss Patel insists that Sir Steve will ensure’stability’ and ‘continuity’ at the Met.
Miss Patel made the announcement as Miss Patel revealed details about a formal investigation into why Sadiq Khan forced Cressida from her London job.
The review will examine if due process was observed by Labour politicians.
Once Sir Tom Winsor, currently Chief Inspector for Constabulary, steps down on Thursday of this week the inquiry will take place.
The timing and nature of the inquiry are likely to mean Sir Tom will have more flexibility to make politically-sensitive criticisms of the London Mayor.
Sadiq Khan (pictured), which announced that he was losing confidence in Met commissioner last month said he vetoed an attempt to make Cressida sign a confidentiality agreement
Miss Patel stated: “It is correct that we have adequate legislation in place for the modern policing climate and I believe the circumstances leading to Dame Cressida’s resignation warrant further scrutiny. That is why I have appointed Sir Tom Winsor as the reviewer.
She stated that “Dame Cressida was in charge of the Met during extraordinarily difficult times. Terror attacks and pandemics were just two examples of the difficulties she had to face.”
“Her commitment to London and Londoners helped reduce serious violence within the city, and she is deserving of our appreciation.”
“Sir Steve House (her current deputy) will ensure the continuity and stability of the force as we concentrate on the appointment of the best person to head the largest force in the country and make London a safer place to live and work.
After a string of scandals that included the murder of Sarah Everard, Wayne Couzens (serving officer) revealed to Mr Khan his doubts about Dame Cressida’s ability to shake up her forces.
It seems that Dame Cressida has not yet decided when she will leave.
After being granted a two year extension to her contract last September, negotiations are ongoing over the amount she will receive in compensation.
Although the job of commissioner has yet to be advertised officially, it means that a new chief won’t take office until this summer.
The Mr Khan spokeswoman said that the trust of the public in the Met Police was at its lowest point after several scandals such as the killing of Sarah Everard, which was committed by a former officer, and the exposed racism, sexism and homophobia at Charing Cross station.
“It was against these backdrops that the mayor lost faith in the capability of the Met Commissioner to make the needed deep-rooted reforms.”
“The Home Secretary and the mayor are now working together to name a new Commissioner who can understand the severity of the issues facing the force, and have a plan for restoring the confidence and trust of Londoners.”
Scotland Yard spokesmen said, “We are happy that the Home Secretary announced a review into circumstances which led to Commissioner Cressida Dim stepping down.” Sir Tom Winsor’s work will be supported by us fully.
The question is, who could replace the Met in trouble? Cressida is being replaced by a Merseyside police officer, an ex-counterterror chief that threatened to imprison journalists and a Merseyside detective who stated violent criminals are ‘NOT automatically bad people.’
As confidence continues to fall, it is not clear who will be the Metropolitan Police’s next leader.
Dame Cressida Dick, who became the first woman to head the Met Police in 2017, said she had ‘no choice but to step aside’ after losing Sadiq Khan’s confidence.
Questions quickly erupted following the announcement about her successor during turbulent times for Britain’s most powerful police force.
Likely replacements for the £230,000-a-year role range from a counter-terror chief who threatened to jail journalists and blamed terrorism on a lack of social mobility to a Merseyside cop who said violent criminals were ‘not inherently bad people’.
MailOnline spoke to a senior member of parliament in September. They fear that the current generation of senior officers may not be as woken up as they thought.
They stated: “The problem with Cressida was that she presided over several disasters and later claims that it was not her fault.
“It is hard when we keep the same opinion that operational decisions should be left to the police, not politicians.
MailOnline examines the possible candidates for succeeding Dame Cressida.
After Dame Cressida’s shocking resignation as Scotland Yard boss, the leadership of Metropolitan Police became chaotic
Neil Basu: An anti-terror leader who demanded journalists be tried after they published leaked cables shaming Trump
Neil Basu, who has been at the Met for nearly 30 years
Neil Basu was the Met’s previous head of counterterrorism. He is Britain’s most senior officer of Asian heritage.
He was also the assistant commissioner of specialist operations from September 2021 to September 2021. This included responsibility around national security and had been originally tipped for top position in 2017. However, he lost out to Dame Cressida.
He called on the Equality Act 2010 to relax the restrictions on positive discrimination to increase the numbers of BAME recruits. Kit Malthouse (police minister) immediately dismissed him. Priti Patel, Home secretary, was said to also be opposed.
After threatening journalists to sue them for publishing leaked cables to Sir Kim Darroch (British ambassador to USA), Mr Basu received new accusations of meddling with politics.
David Davis, a former Tory cabinet minister, said that the intervening was ‘well beyond his brief’ and an attack against the Free Press.
Following a Scotland Yard probe, Basu commented that Sir Kim had leaked memos labelling the Trump administration as ‘clumsy’ and ‘inept’.
Basu, who spent most of his career with the Met, also made an unusual intervention in August 2015, suggesting that homegrown terrorists were fuelled by lack of social mobility. He said better education and opportunities for young people would do more to fight terrorism than ‘the policing and state security apparatus put together’ — adding that he was not trying to excuse any acts of violence.
He said that British Muslims shouldn’t be made to “assimilate” and added: “Assimilation means I must hide from the world in order for me to continue my life.” That should never be accepted in society.
Basu, according to a Mail On Sunday 2019 profile, is well liked by the military and MI5 intelligence personnel. He has been criticised for making some operational decisions. The three inquiries into phone hacking, computer hacking and alleged payments to police officers by newspapers cost around £19.5million and were criticised for criminalising journalists.
Mr Basu also raised eyebrows when he said that the Prevent programme – which tries to detect and deradicalise extremists – was viewed by some critics as a ‘toxic brand’ and needs ‘better communication, more transparency’.
He is a Hindu and was born to an Indian father and white British mother. He was raised in Stafford where he attended Walton High School and then studied economics at Nottingham University.
In 1992, he was a Met officer. He started as a bat bobby in Battersea (South London), then quickly rose through the ranks to become a commander of boroughs in Barnet, North London and Commander of South London.
Andy Cooke, former Merseyside chief insisting that even violent criminals are not inherently evil
Andy Cooke now works with the police inspectionate
While head of Merseyside Police, Andy Cooke sparked anger when he said even violent criminals are ‘not inherently bad people’ and he’d rather pump billions into cutting poverty than upholding the law.
The officer, marking his retirement as Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, said if he was given a £5 billion budget to cut crime, he would spend £1 billion on crime and £4 billion on tackling poverty.
Now, he is Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and the Inspector of Fire and Rescue Authorities. He will oversee inspections in North England.
Cooke served as chief constable for five-years. He was responsible for the arrest of many multi-millionaire drug law officers, such as Liam “the Lam” Cornett (Little Liverpool’s notoriously powerful drugs boss), who was taken to court every day in an armed convoy. The Mulhare brothers were also transported to court by the convoy.
George Leather, 60 (a brutal Asda worker who stabbed his wife 56 times, killing her instantly in an ‘episode full of barbaric and unimaginable savagery,’) and Robert Child, 37 (for striking Janice, Janice’s mother with a stick 31 times, was among those jailed under his tenure).
Andrew Bridgen (Tory MP) said about Mr Cooke’s plans to cut the budget for police: ‘In such a case, would he not be happy to let go of 80% of his officers. Reduce poverty is not the responsibility of the police budget. That’s up to the other agencies as well as the government.
“I don’t think that the majority of UK citizens would welcome this type of change. They would like to see police protecting property, citizens, and criminals. This sounds like someone who would be willing to take the knee for BLM, and then defund the police.
Merseyside police gained reputation under Mr Cooke for its tough policing methods and keen use of stop-and search powers. Cooke was the original commander of Merseyside’s Matrix unit. It was created to combat gang violence and gang crime.
Simon Byrne, top Northern Ireland cop “with a reputation to be like Darth Vader”
Simon Byrne was appointed chief constable of Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in May 2019.
Simon Byrne, who has 36 years of police experience behind him, was promoted to chief constable of Police Service of Northern Ireland.
He held senior positions at GMP, the Met and was made chief constable for Cheshire Police between 2014-2017. He was accused of intimidating and humiliating employees. This led to his resignation from the position.
In a misconduct hearing it was revealed that he treated his staff members and junior officers as if they were ‘roadkill’.
After becoming angry about flooding, he gave photos of Dad’s Army characters and his family to the officers.
The Tribunal cleared him of misconduct and concluded that much was exaggerated.
During his time as chief constable, Mr Byrne revealed he had considered breaking the law in order to hire more officers from ethnic minorities. There were only three black officers in the force at that point.
According to him, the BBC reported that he believed the law in England should be modified ‘for a period of time’ to enable faster hiring of minorities. This would make sure that “for every white officer we recruit one African officer.”
According to Mr Byrne, he said that he had even sought legal advice regarding breaking the law. This might seem crazy for a high-ranking police officer.
“But if you put pressure on us to change, what consequences other than reputational from breaking the law?”
Current equality laws prohibit employers from hiring job applicants based on their race, sexual orientation, or gender. However, they can employ other qualified candidates.
At PSNI he attracted controversy for suggesting the children of paramilitaries could be taken into care.
He was also forced to apologise after tweeting a photo of himself with officers holding rifles outside a PSNI station on Christmas Day, the BBC reported.
Martin Hewitt: Martin Hewitt was the chief of NPCC, who backed Covid sceptics’ crackdown and stated that officers felt ‘undervalued” amid pay dispute
Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council
Martin Hewitt was the chair of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), during the Covid crisis. Hewitt made a variety of notable political interventions.
Amid fury last year at officers being hit by a pay freeze, Mr Hewitt told Priti Patel that many officers believed the decision was ‘unfair’ and they felt ‘undervalued’ after their efforts during Covid.
Hewitt stated that many feel unfairly treated and their contributions are undervalued.
“And unlike the other areas of the public sector, officers are not able to take industrial action in order to support their cases more forcefully.
“As the government makes spending decisions in the coming months, we ask you to fund an settlement that properly reflects and addresses the complex and important work of police officers and begins to fix the salary gap.”
In January 2021, he backed a crackdown on lockdown sceptics and said officers would no longer ‘waste time’ trying to reason with them amid soaring death rates.
He spoke at the Downing Street press conference and gave some examples of shocking, irresponsible behaviour from people who failed to heed warnings. There are more than 1,200 deaths every day.
They included a £30-per-head boat party in Hertfordshire with more than 40 people, a Surrey house party whose host tried to claim it was a business event and a minibus full of people from different households caught travelling from Cheltenham into Wales for a walk.
In April 2019, Mr Hewitt was sworn in. In 1993, he began his career in policing with Kent Police and was transferred to the Metropolitan Police Service for his professional work in 2005.
He served as Assistant Commissioner for five-years and led local and frontline policing and specialist crime, and established professional standards.
Between 2014 and 2019, he led the police national response to kidnap and adult sexual offenses. He also served as Vice-Chair of the NPCC between 2015 and his assumption of the Chairmanship.
Matt Jukes, Assistant Commissioner, is credited for leading the crackdown against Rotherham’s child-grooming gangs
Matt Jukes, Assistant Commissioner, is credited for leading the crackdown against Rotherham’s child-grooming gangs
After graduating in maths from Oxford, Matt Jukes joined the South Yorkshire police force in 1995.
His career began as a detective. He rose to the top of his ranks and was able to represent UK Police Forces at G8 Meetings and take part in national anti-terror strategy.
Mr Jukes is best known for tackling Rotherham grooming gangs while borough commander in the Yorkshire town from 2006 to 2010.
Rotherham was home to more than 1,000 exploited children between 1997-2013. The problem was not addressed by local authorities or schools.
Alexis Jay reported on the scandal and suggested that Jukes’ leadership was a turning point for police in their handling of the abuse.
Following his service in South Yorkshire Police, Alun Michael supported him and positioned himself as an outstanding leader.
His climb to the highest post at South Wales Police saw him become Chief Constable in January 2018.
He also serves as chairman of Police Sport UK.
Mr Jukes moved to the Met in November 2020. In the New Year Honours List 2018, he was presented with a Queens Police Medal