Met chief tells Boris Johnson he's not in charge

Former Commissioner Sir Ian Blair resigned after Boris Johnson took office

Scotland Yard chief Sir Paul Stephenson today issued a dramatic challenge to City Hall, saying: "Hands off the Met."

In an internal email to his officers and staff the commissioner firmly rejected a claim that the Tory-run administration had seized control of the running of the Metropolitan Police.

Sir Paul broke off his holiday to intervene in a row sparked by Boris Johnson's deputy Kit Malthouse, who claimed in a newspaper interview that the Tories had "elbowed the Home Office out of the picture" and had the Met's top officers working to their agenda.

The claim prompted a furious response from senior Yard insiders while the Home Office accused the Mayor of using the police as a "political football".

In an internal message, seen by the Standard, Sir Paul rejected the suggestion that Scotland Yard was under the control of any political party.

He said: "While the Home Office and the police authority have a right and duty to set priorities, budget and hold us to account, I set the operational strategy and direction for the Met.

"All operational decisions are taken without fear or favour for any individual, political or other interest.

"I can reassure you that I have no intention or expectation of this changing now or in the future."

In the Guardian interview Mr Malthouse, the deputy mayor for policing, said that he and the Mayor, who chairs the Metropolitan Police Authority, had "decided to be more influential" and would no longer rubber-stamp the ideas of senior officers without question.

He also declared that he and Mr Johnson "have our hands on the tiller" of the Met.

However, there was fury at the comments in the upper circles of the Yard.

One senior insider said: "This is nonsense. If you look at what the police have delivered in the past year that is all down to Sir Paul and nothing to do with politicians.

"Paul has been very robust with Mr Malthouse in recent months. It is ridiculous to say he has wrested control away from the police. He is a local politician thinking he is a national politician. He is very full of himself."

The Home Office — which clashed with Mr Johnson last year over the removal of the former commissioner Sir Ian Blair — also responded defiantly by declaring that "nothing had changed".

It added that Mr Malthouse's claims were "incorrect" and in a further swipe at City Hall warned that policing in London was "far too important to be used as a political football".

Aides to the Mayor later tried to play down the significance of Mr Malthouse's comments, saying he had not meant to imply he or the Mayor had any operational control of the police.

The Mayor also appeared to distance himself from his deputy's remarks, telling the BBC that he was fully aware that Sir Paul had complete operational control of the Met.

Conservative Central Office today declined to comment.

But former Home Secretary David Blunkett accused the Tories of "dangerous triumphalism" and the Labour chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, Keith Vaz, described Mr Malthouse's claims as an "astonishing" and "remarkable" outburst that flew in the face of the facts.

Sir Hugh Orde, the chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: "The strength of British policing is that Chief Constables are operationally independent and held to account.

"If people seriously think some form of elected individual is better placed to oversee policing I am interested to see the details of how that is going to work."

In the interview, Mr Malthouse said he believed the police should be under as much political control as the NHS or education.

"I don't know why we reserve a special place for policing  we are a mature democracy."

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