Met chief risks rift with leak probe
By Ben Leapman Home Affairs Correspondent
(Filed: 28/05/2006)


Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, risks embroiling Scotland Yard in a fresh round of infighting after ordering an inquiry into why details of a private meeting were leaked.

Sir Ian told the Metropolitan Police Authority on Thursday that the cost of removing a peace camp from Parliament Square, which involved 78 officers, was £7,200.

The following day, the issue was discussed by the Met's management board. Within hours, details of the meeting were passed to a journalist, who contacted Scotland Yard for a comment. That afternoon, Sir Ian admitted that he had misled the authority, as the true cost of dismantling the anti-war protester Brian Haw's placards, including officers' pay, was £27,754.


In an email to MPA members and officials, he wrote: "I am disappointed by what seems to be a leak to the press out of what is an ordinary and internal meeting. Such behaviour appears to be contrary to the values of the organisation and this will be looked into accordingly."

The board is made up of 10 senior Met officers and staff, plus the Commissioner. Some send deputies when they cannot attend.

The last leak inquiry at Scotland Yard collapsed when the Met called off an investigation into the conduct of Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick, who had been accused of disclosing confidential information about the shooting of the innocent Brazilian, Jean Charles de Menezes, last July.

Sir Ian is awaiting the outcome of an inquiry into whether he misled the public over the shooting. The episode has opened up deep rifts at Scotland Yard, with senior officers giving conflicting accounts to investigators from the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Sir Ian has survived a string of gaffes since he was appointed in 2004. He apologised for secretly recording telephone conversations with senior Government figures, and for saying that he could not understand why the Soham murders had received so much coverage.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "There is an inquiry under way into the coverage of matters discussed at a meeting on May 26."