New Met chief Hogan-Howe hailed as ‘tough crime fighter’ by May

Home secretary chooses candidate favoured by Tories to lead UK’s biggest police force, ignoring advice from experts Bernard Hogan-Howe was appointed as commissioner of the Metropolitan police on Monday after the home secretary, Theresa May, ignored recommendations from two official panels that the government critic Sir Hugh Orde should get the job. May hailed the new commissioner as a “tough, single-minded crime fighter”. Hogan-Howe, the former chief constable of Merseyside police, said: “It is my intention to build on public trust in the Metropolitan police service and lead a service that criminals will fear and staff will be proud to work for.” Final interviews for the £260,000-a-year Scotland Yard job were conducted on Monday morning by May and Boris Johnson, the London mayor. They picked Hogan-Howe to become the most senior officer in British policing ahead of three other police chiefs: Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers; Tim Godwin, the acting Met commissioner; and Stephen House, chief constable of Strathclyde police. The Guardian has learned that two official panels that formed part of the selection process, and who interviewed the four candidates, had both assessed Orde as the best choice. However, his public criticism of the government’s proposed radical reforms of policing is thought to have cost him the job. The first panel to reach a conclusion was convened by the Home Office and comprised top civil servants and experts. It was chaired by Helen Ghosh, who serves as permanent secretary at the Home Office, and met on Friday 2 September. Last Tuesday, a special panel of the Metropolitan police authority (MPA) met and also ranked Orde as best for the job, placing Hogan-Howe second. In the last two searches for a Met commissioner, in 2005 and 2009, the home secretary has accepted the panel’s recommendations. By law, the selection of the Met commissioner is the responsibility of the home secretary, who merely has to have “regard” for the views of the mayor and the MPA. Minutes after the appointment, a senior source with close knowledge of the Met claimed there were doubts about the appointment. “You have to hope he is successful. But it is a risky appointment. As commissioner, you have to build a team; he does not have that reputation, he believes he is always right,” he said. “He polarises opinion. The Met is not Merseyside.” The source added that Hogan-Howe’s known closeness to the Conservatives meant “the appointment was a political choice; he has been cosying up to the Conservatives. The Met will remain in turmoil”. But an experienced senior officer said Hogan-Howe had impressed since becoming temporary commissioner, telling junior officers what he wanted in “jargon-free and clear language.” Another added: “He is a bright bloke, very able with a good range of experience. He is a moderniser, committed to diversity. It’s a good choice.” When Sir Paul Stephenson resigned in July amid the phone-hacking scandal, May inserted Hogan-Howe into the Met as acting deputy commissioner. Hogan-Howe, who led the Merseyside force from 2004 to 2009, had left the police service to work for Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, where part of his brief was monitoring the Met. He therefore had to be sworn in as a constable, a requirement of holding such high office. Johnson said Hogan-Howe had cut crime by 40% in three years while in Merseyside and had an excellent record in tackling gangs. The mayor said: “Bernard Hogan-Howe has made it clear that this will be a new more transparent era for the Met, making the police more accountable to the public. ” The new commissioner will face a daunting set of challenges. The mayor demanded quick results ahead of his battle for re-election next May against Labour’s Ken Livingstone and former Met deputy assistant commissioner, Brian Paddick, standing for the Liberal Democrats, where policing will be a key issue. Johnson said: “I believe the public will begin to notice a number of positive changes over the next few months.” Ironically, Hogan-Howe in part owes the job to Orde, who managed to persuade the home secretary to oppose Downing Street’s plan to bring in Bill Bratton, the former US police chief, to run the Met. As relations between top officers and the Conservatives plunged to an all-time low, Orde criticised the government over plans for elected crime commissioners, funding cuts and its response to the August riots. He also dismissed the prime minister’s idea that the Met could be run by a foreign police chief as “stupid”. Hogan-Howe had applied for the commissioner’s job in 2009, but failed to make the shortlist, when the final two candidates were Orde and Stephenson. The change of government helped his cause this time around. Supporters say he is pragmatic about the need to listen to politicians. Critics are less kind. Stephenson and the Tory mayor’s team clashed over the British tradition that police chiefs have “operational independence”. Hogan-Howe will be expected by his peers in policing to preserve that principle while needing to keep politicians placated. He becomes the third Met commissioner in three years. Under Johnson’s administration, first Sir Ian Blair and then Stephenson resigned. The new commissioner also faces the challenge of next year’s Olympics in London, knitting together his top team and motivating his own rank-and-file officers, and dealing with large budget cuts while trying to cut crime. Metropolitan police London Police Theresa May guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 12, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.