Sir Mark Rowley remains the favourite to become the next Met Commissioner
(Picture: PA Archive)The odds on Britain’s former counter-terrorism chief Sir Mark Rowley becoming the next Met Commissioner narrowed dramatically on Monday as he was chosen as one of two final contenders for the job.
Sir Mark, who led the country’s counter-terrorism command for four years including at the time of the Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge attacks of 2017, will be up against Met Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave in the final interviews for the post.
Four other contenders have been rejected by the Home Office. The last to go was Shaun Sawyer, the outgoing Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall, who had made it through to a final three before being turned down by the Home Office.
The other three candidates were vetoed earlier after an initial “paper sift” of applications.
They included Jon Boutcher, a former Chief Constable of Bedfordshire and Met counter-terror officer who is now leading Operation Kenova into allegations about the involvement of the agent “Stakeknife” in IRA murders.
He had spoken frankly several years ago about the need for action to tackle racial disparity in policing and also suggested previously that government spending cuts were harming efforts to divert people “caught by circumstance” from committing crime.
The other rejected candidates are Mike Bush, a former New Zealand police chief who was trying to become the first foreign Met Commissioner, and Kevin Hurley, a former Scotland Yard officer and Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner.
There was no official comment today on the decision to whittle down the contenders to the final two.
But the news confirms Sir Mark, who was already the front runner, as the hot favourite.
Danny Shaw, a policing commentator, said Sir Mark was “really impressive, intelligent and not afraid to take tough decisions” and that Mr Ephgrave, who has a reputation as a thoughtful and dedicated officer with decades of experience, was also a high-calibre candidate.
But he expressed surprise at the rejection of Mr Boutcher and suggested that his forthright views might have led to him being blocked. “The puzzle is why Jon Boutcher hasn’t got through to the next stage,” he added. “There is a whiff of politics about it.”
The vacancy for Met Commissioner was created by the dramatic ousting of Dame Cressida Dick by London Mayor Sadiq Khan earlier this year over the succession of scandals that have engulfed the force.
They include the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens, the racist and misogynistic conduct of some officers at Charing Cross police station, and the strip-searching of 15-year-old pupil Girl Q at her Hackney school while she was on her period. The new Commissioner will be selected by Home Secretary Priti Patel in consultation with Mr Khan and is expected to be appointed in the next couple of months once final interviews and other selection tests have been completed.
Sir Mark has been the favourite ever since Dame Lynne Owens, the former director general of the National Crime Agency, announced that she would not be standing.
He was appointed as a Met Assistant Commissioner in 2011 after serving as Chief Constable of Surrey and worked on tackling gang crime and public order before heading national counter-terrorism policing for four years until his retirement in 2018.
Assistant Commissioner Ephgrave was the only serving Scotland Yard officer who applied to replace Dame Cressida.
He fronted the police’s public updates during the Sarah Everard murder investigation and has played a key part in the force’s recent efforts to suppress violence and divert young Londoners away from gangs and knife crime.
