Under-fire Met Police Chief Cressida Dick has rejected calls to quit and insisted she is "leading transformation" of the force.
The Police Commissioner was put on notice by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who said she has just “days or weeks” to avoid losing his support over a string of scandals in the capital’s force.
Scotland Yard is facing a barrage of criticism, from claims of a culture of misogyny and racism to the force's initial failure to investigate rule-busting parties at Downing Street.
But, speaking on BBC London, Dame Cressida tried to face down questions about her future, saying: “I have absolutely no intention of going and I believe that I am and have been, actually for the last five years, leading a real transformation in the Met.
“We have a service now which is, I’m absolutely certain, more professional, fairer, more transparent, more accountable and closer to its communities and more effective in, for example, reducing violent crime, which has been going down year on year on year in almost every category, bucking the national trends.”
The Met confirmed on Wednesday it would be sending questionnaires which "have legal force" to more than 50 people thought to have been at No10 parties during Covid restrictions.
Dame Cressida said "some but not all" being quizzed would received fixed penalty notices, but added it would not be "appropriate" to comment on the ongoing investigation.
She also refused to be drawn on whether Met officers who guarded Downing Street witnessed Covid rule breaches, adding: “It would be quite wrong for me to comment on whether anyone who works for the Met did or did not know what you describe as ‘what’s going on’ because that is part of the investigation.
“But I would say one thing to you, which is that my officers are there primarily, with firearms, to keep people safe from terrorists, from armed attackers and the like. That is their primary job.
“I do not ask them, and I’m not going to start asking them, to patrol the corridors of Whitehall looking for, you know, what might be going on in offices.
“That is not appropriate. We don’t do it in any other environment. We wouldn’t come marching into the BBC to do that and so we need to see, we need to find out what they saw, what they knew, what they did, if anything, and I assure you that will come out as part of the investigation.”
But questions will continue to be asked about the Met's culture.
Scotland Yard was already shamed over a string of incidents, including officers’ missed opportunities to catch ‘Grindr killer’ Stephen Port, before disturbing Whatsapps emerged last week.
A series of disturbing messages exchanged by a group of officers, primarily based at Charing Cross police station, were published by a watchdog.
Dame Cressida said she expected “to be held to account” over the exposure of the racist and sexist messages sent by Metropolitan Police officers.
When asked about the mayor’s comments by Eddie Nestor on BBC Radio London, Dame Cressida said: “I am highly accountable as the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
“The Met is an incredibly important service for London and, on occasion, for the country through counterterrorism.
“I expect to be held to account, it’s a big job and I’m quite used to being asked to account for things and I will go on doing so in the future.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said she was “seething angry” about racist and sexist comments made by officers.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) revealed a number of officers at Charing Cross had made the remarks in text messages.
She told BBC Radio London: “I am seething angry about the whole thing. I’m very glad that the four individuals have left.
“There is no place in the Met for sexism or racism or homophobia, for abuse trust or for bullying, and in the last few days I have gone out extremely strongly to my colleagues and told them enough is enough.
“This is a fantastic police service. It is hugely capable in so many ways, but its reputation has been tarnished by the awful things that you were hearing about there in relation to the impact team at Charing Cross and also, some other awful things have happened and come to light in the last several months.”
She added she was “absolutely determined” in “rooting out” similar officers and said any who held those views should “get out now”.
