Sir Ian Blair is to receive a £300,000 payout afer being forced to resign as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

The sum is what he would have received in salary if he had remained in the post until the end of his contract in February 2010. He is paid £253,000 a year.

Reports have suggested that Mr Blair, who officially steps down on December 1, would also get £100,000 in bonuses but The Times has been told that he will not be getting any bonuses at all.

After February 2010, Mr Blair is due to get an index-linked pension of £168,000 a year.

The package was agreed by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) last week under “urgency procedures”. The MPA held the secret meeting to make sure the details could be worked out before Mr Blair stepped down.

The decision was taken by Catherine Crawford, the Chief Executive of the MPA, after consultation with Mayor Boris Johnson, the Chair of the MPA, his deputy, Kit Malthouse, the Deputy Mayor for Policing, and two other members.

Mr Blair was forced to resign at the beginning of October after Mr Johnson made it clear that he could not work with him.

Sir Paul Stephenson, the Deputy Commissioner, will take over at the head of the force while a new leader is chosen. An advert for the job appeared for the first time last week, a week later than planned after backstage wrangling halted a first draft. Applicants for the job of leading the country’s biggest force are required to be British citizens as the position involves national security.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, will make the final decision after representations from Mr Johnson and recommendations from the MPA. The successful applicant will be appointed by next Spring at the latest.

Jenny Jones, Green Party Assembly Member, said: “By paying off Sir Ian Blair, the Mayor has left Londoners paying for two police commissioners but only getting the services of one.

“If the Mayor had consulted other parts of London Government about both the original decision to dismiss Sir Ian and the subsequent decision to compensate him, we probably wouldn’t be in this situation. Any final decision should only be taken once the whole issue has been discussed in public at a full meeting of the MPA.

“I think Londoners will particularly want to know whether this apparent compensation was a condition of Sir Ian Blair resigning.”

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