The embattled Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police was given the Prime Minister’s personal backing tonight after further fall-out from the east London anti-terror raid and the Stockwell shooting led to fresh calls for him to quit.
Sir Ian Blair’s future at the head of Scotland Yard was called into question yet again over the weekend, but Tony Blair said he was doing a "fine job" and that he retained his full confidence.
Sir Ian was given further top-level backing today from Ken Livingstone, the London Mayor, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) and the chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA).
But despite this, one MPA member said that it was now time for Sir Ian to go - and claimed that a "large number" of his fellow authority members thought the same.
Pressure on the Commissioner, who has been criticised for a string of embarrassing gaffes, intensified after the two brothers arrested in the Forest Gate raid were released without charge on Friday night.
Around 250 demonstrators gathered outside Scotland Yard to protest against the operation yesterday, while reports suggested the two brothers could each claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation.
Sir Ian was dealt a further blow after an apparent leak from the police watchdog’s report into the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian electrician mistaken for a suicide bomber last July, revealed a catalogue of police blunders.
The News of the World also reported that officers close to the case knew they had got the wrong man at a point when Sir Ian was still briefing the press that the shooting was directly linked to a series of alleged attempted suicide bombings in the capital the previous day.
Some commentators speculated yesterday that Sir Ian had finally lost ministerial backing when Tony McNulty, the Police Minister, said that he was "entirely safe" for now, but refused to be drawn on his long-term future as Commissioner. But Mr Blair appeared to lay that to rest, when he said: "I retain complete confidence in Sir Ian Blair as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and, more than that, I retain complete confidence in our police and our security services in tackling the terrorist threat that we face.
"That threat is real. We know it is real because it has killed innocent people in this country. And in my view, if I can say this in relation to what happened in Forest Gate, if our police were not acting on such information, then we would have the right to complain."
The Prime Minister added: "This is not the moment to question either our Police Commissioner or the police or the security services, who in my judgment are doing a fine job in protecting this country."
However, Damian Hockney, an MPA member, said that Sir Ian’s position was "not tenable".
"The Met needs inspired and courageous leadership and, with the best will in the world, Sir Ian cannot provide it. Tony Blair and the Home Secretary can say he is safe, but all that leads to is the perception of a lame duck Commissioner."
Ken Jones, president of Acpo, said that it was not right for Sir Ian to be judged on the basis of leaks and innuendo, and called for a "period of calm". Mr Jones said police were operating in an "extraordinary context" because of the threat of Islamist terrorism, as seen last July.
"It is right and proper that the tragic events of those dark days be fully scrutinised," he said. "But is not right and proper that superficial armchair judgments are now being arrived at based on leaks, gossip and innuendo. It seems that Sir Ian Blair has somehow become a lightning rod for the collective profound shock and anger over what happened last year.
"This is manifestly unfair. The template of perfection against which he is being daily measured is a test that no one in public life could, or even should, be expected to pass."
Mr Livingstone also gave the embattled Commissioner his support, and criticised the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which led the de Menezes inquiry.
He said that he remained confident Sir Ian would be "exonerated" by the watchdog’s report into the shooting, but added: "Frankly, as things stand at the moment, I have very little confidence in the IPCC, given the way they have conducted themselves and mishandled this investigation."
Mr Livingstone also said he would demand answers on press reports that the police had raised doubts over the intelligence behind the Forest Gate raid, but had been ordered to go ahead by the Government’s security and intelligence co-ordinator, Sir Richard Mottram.
"If we are now to be told that when the police have doubts about a raid, someone in the Cabinet Office can overrule them and effectively send them in, then this is very worrying indeed," he said
Len Duvall, the MPA chairman, said that he had asked the Commissioner for a full a report on the issues surrounding the Forest Gate raid. He said that questions needed to be answered about why 250 officers were deployed, as well as the sources of intelligence and events in the run-up to the swoop that led to one of the brothers being shot in the shoulder.
However, he insisted that Sir Ian enjoyed the confidence of a "substantial majority" of the police authority and the Government.
