Read The Times exclusive on plots to oust Sir Ian Blair

Sir Ian Blair angrily denied today that he was being ousted from his job as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, saying: "The report of my death is an exaggeration."

Speaking to reporters outside Scotland Yard, Sir Ian directly challenged a front-page report in The Times today according to which detailed plans are being prepared to ease him from his post.

It was reported that ministers, senior officials and police chiefs had "secretly discussed arrangements for replacing the embattled commissioner by the end of this year". It said that ministers want him out to "halt the collapse in morale" among the ranks of the Met.

But Sir Ian said that the Times article had "no basis in fact" and there had as yet been no correspondence over a possible extension of his contract, which expires in February 2010.

He said: "Most people are pleased to get a couple of letters published in The Times in their lifetime: to have two leaders written about oneself in a matter of weeks would normally be very flattering.

"However, newspapers do not always get everything right. As Mark Twain said after reading an account of his own death in the New York Journal‘: The report of my death is an exaggeration’.

"Same here: I have a job to do: I am getting on with it and will continue to do so."

Sir Ian, 55, hopes to be commissioner during the London Olympics in 2012, but his leadership of the force has been hit by various controversies, most notably that surrounding the shooting dead in July 2005 of the Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, who was chased onto an Underground train and killed after being mistaken for a suicide bomber at Stockwell Tube station.

He is also embroiled in a race relations row involving Britain’s highest-ranking Muslim officer, Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur. Mr Ghaffur has submitted an employment tribunal claim including allegations of discrimination against Sir Ian and other senior policemen.

Critics say Sir Ian has also been damaged by the number of high-profile teenage stabbings in the capital. Some 25 teenagers have died violently in London so far this year, two short of last year’s total.

But Sir Ian, a police reformer, points to success in reducing crime rates and increased community policing.

He joined the Met in 1974 having studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and rose quickly through the ranks. He received a knighthood in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2003 for services to policing.

In February 2005, he succeeded Sir John Stevens as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

A Home Office spokesman said: "The Home Secretary has full confidence in Sir Ian Blair and the Home Office has been involved in no discussions of this nature.

"Sir Ian Blair has a year and a half of his contract to run and it is far too early to be making decisions about whether or not it should be extended. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner is a royal appointment, following a recommendation of the Home Secretary, who consults the Mayor and Metropolitan Police Authority."

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