Priti Patel’s search for new Met police chief could include overseas candidates

Home Office is thought to believe someone outside the Metropolitan police would better able to change its culture after the resignation of Cressida Dick. Photograph: PjrNews/Alamy

Could the UK’s most powerful police officer be brought in from outside the force? Or might Priti Patel look even farther afield – to Australia, or even the United States – instead of recruiting from within Scotland Yard?

Reports this weekend claimed that the unexpected resignation of Cressida Dick, the head of the Metropolitan police, has driven the home secretary to look for an outsider to transform the force.