The senior management board of the Metropolitan Police Service met in crisis last week on the morning after one of its members had publicly accused the force and its leader of racism.

The key protagonists, however, were absent from the boardroom: Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, the man who made the allegations, was absent on leave; Sir Ian Blair, the man he had singled out for criticism, was on holiday.

That the commissioner chose not to return from his summer break to face yet another crisis is telling. Some had expected him to return to London, either to try to divert Mr Ghaffur from a course of action that would damage the force, or to lead the Met’s response to the racism allegations.

Perhaps the man known best these days for his staying power and resilience in the face of personal attack had lost the will to fight on.

Sir Ian has faced repeated crises since he became commissioner in 2005: the Stockwell shooting and trial; the illicit recording of phone calls; his public puzzlement over the media coverage of the Soham murders. But the problems have come one at a time and, although the cumulative effect has been detrimental, he has survived.

Over the next few months Sir Ian faces three big problems, any one of which could bring about his downfall: the Stockwell inquest; the Ghaffur tribunal; and an inquiry over police contracts awarded to one of his friends.

One could lead to him being labelled racist, another opens him up to accusations of corruption. He vigorously rejects both of these, but they remain uncomfortable allegations to live with. Ironically, it is the issue over which he resisted calls for his resignation last year that still allows Sir Ian the chance to step down with some semblance of dignity. The end of the Stockwell shooting inquest, probably in December, seems a natural point for him to call it a day.

Last year he said: “If I believed that my staying would damage the service I have given most of my working life to, then of course I would go.” He must realise by now that the constant focus on him, the scrutiny of his every word and act, is damaging not only the Met, but also himself and his family.

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