Cressida Dick with Sadiq Khan (Victoria Jones/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Dame Cressida Dick’s tenure as Met Commissioner continues to generate headlines weeks after the 61-year-old confirmed she would quit the force, after losing the confidence of Mayor Sadiq Khan. Dick is said to be seeking a payout for the two-year extension of her contract as head of the Met that is due to start next month, but Khan believes she should leave without it due to the fact that she resigned before the contract had kicked in.
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.
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.”
This all has the effect of slowing down the recruitment of the next Met Commissioner, at a time when the force can barely afford to be slowing down on the reforms that need to be enacted after a series of scandals has damaged the reputation of the Metropolitan Police in the eyes of the public.
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