Evening Standard Comment: The Metropolitan Police must get its house in order

The fallout from Operation Hotton, the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation into behaviour at Charing Cross police station, is far from over.

Today, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence criticised the Met for paying only lip service to victims of its alleged culture of racism, misogyny, bullying and homophobia, suggesting the force has “no intention” of changing. The fear, expressed by Baroness Doreen Lawrence, is keenly felt: that the latest crisis to hit Scotland Yard will lead to apologies but no firm action taken.

Sadiq Khan too appears to be losing patience. In a 90-minute meeting with Dame Cressida Dick on Wednesday, he warned the Met Commissioner she was one scandal away from being relieved of her duties. Londoners need a police service they can trust. The Met must get its house in order.

The Winter Olympics formally commence in Beijing today, which becomes the first city to host both the summer and winter versions of the event. This is clearly a Games that will be overshadowed not only by Covid-19, or concerns over artificial snow, but by human rights.

The UK has joined other western nations in a diplomatic boycott of the event, relating to the repression of China’s Uyghur minority, which the United States has called a genocide.

We of course wish Team GB well and hope they bring home plenty of golds and cheer. But this is far from a normal Olympics.