The recruitment of the next Met Commissioner is being held up by continued wrangling between City Hall and Scotland Yard over the exit of Cressida Dick.
Mayor Sadiq Khan wants Dame Cressida, who announced she was quitting last month after losing his confidence, to depart without a payout for the two-year extension that she was due to start next month.
Mr Khan argues that this is because she had not started the extra term in office when she resigned
But Dame Cressida is understood to be protesting that she was effectively dismissed by the Mayor through his public rubbishing of her performance and withdrawal of support and she is entitled as a matter of principle to have the terms of her contract honoured.
The issue remains deadlocked almost five weeks after her departure was first announced and means no date for her exit from Scotland Yard, where she remains in charge temporarily, has yet been agreed.
That in turn is delaying the advertising of the vacancy for Commissioner because it leaves the new candidate’s start date unclear, in a hold-up that is causing increasing frustration at the Home Office.
It had hoped to have her replacement in place by the summer to begin transforming the Met in the wake of the series of scandals that led to Dame Cressida’s downfall.
But there is now the risk that the hold-up over when Dame Cressida will finally depart is going to push back the appointment and slow down the process of bringing change to Scotland Yard.
The new twist will add to the controversy surrounding Dame Cressida’s departure.
It was triggered when Mr Khan said in a BBC interview that she had only “days and weeks” to prove she could restore “shattered” confidence in the Met and that he was not satisfied with her existing plans.
He added that he was ready to “take action” if she failed, in a signal that he was ready to oust her.
Dame Cressida announced the following day she was quitting after being told via City Hall and Scotland Yard aides that a plan she had already submitted to the Mayor was deemed inadequate.
Her Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen House has since accused the Mayor of acting unlawfully by failing to follow the “clear procedure laid down in statute to allow for the replacement of a police chief officer.”
He added that he had written to Home Secretary Priti Patel asking her to conduct a review of the Mayor’s conduct. Ms Patel has yet to decide whether to agree.
Dame Cressida’s departure followed a succession of scandals including the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer and the racist and misogynistic conduct of some officers at Charing Cross police station, which Mr Khan said had “disgusted” him.
