Cressida Dick has been forced out as head of the Metropolitan police after London’s mayor accused her of failing to deal with a culture of misogyny and racism within Britain’s biggest force.
Dick’s dramatic resignation was announced just hours after she told a radio phone in that she would stay in post and had a plan to rid the Met of its toxic culture. But when City Hall let her aides know the plan was inadequate, the commissioner decided to boycott a showdown meeting set for 4.30pm and quit instead.
Khan had put Dick “on notice” last Wednesday that she had to rapidly reform Scotland Yard or lose his support for her leadership. His confidence in her was shaken to breaking point by a scandal at Charing Cross police station where officers shared racist, sexist, misogynistic and Islamophobic messages. Two of the officers investigated were promoted, while nine were left to serve in the Met.
Her resignation comes less than three weeks after the Met announced a criminal inquiry into lockdown parties in Downing Street, which could lead to the prime minister and dozens of staff being fined.
Dick, the first female leader in the Met’s 193-year history, has led the force since 2017, with her five-year term as commissioner due to end in April this year. Her contract was extended by two years to 2024 only last September by the home secretary, Priti Patel, which Khan endorsed.
But Whitehall sources made clear on Wednesday that if Dick lost the confidence of the mayor they would not fight to save her.
In a statement Dick made clear she had been forced out: “It is with huge sadness that, following contact with the mayor of London today, it is clear that the mayor no longer has sufficient confidence in my leadership to continue. He has left me no choice but to step aside as commissioner of the Metropolitan police service.
“At his request, I have agreed to stay on for a short period to ensure the stability of the Met and its leadership while arrangements are made for a transition to a new commissioner.
“Undertaking this role as a servant of the people of London and the UK has been the greatest honour and privilege of my life.”
Ahead of Thursday’s crunch meeting, the commissioner decided she could do no more to reassure the mayor, and attending the meeting was pointless. She was aware the government would not step in to save her if she lost the mayor’s confidence, and would expect her to resign.
Sources at the Home Office and City Hall have both told the Guardian of mounting despair at the Met lurching from crisis to crisis over the past few months.
Public confidence has dropped alarmingly among London’s public. For Priti Patel, the Met’s disasters under Dick – which some see as self inflicted and a result of her alleged “defensiveness” – cause concern because they are dragging down confidence in law and order across the country.
Khan effectively picked Dick as commissioner in 2017, thrilled by the historic legacy of the first woman commissioner in the history of the Met, which was founded in 1829.
In his statement, Khan said: “Last week, I made clear to the Metropolitan police commissioner the scale of the change I believe is urgently required to rebuild the trust and confidence of Londoners in the Met and to root out the racism, sexism, homophobia, bullying, discrimination and misogyny that still exists.
“I am not satisfied with the commissioner’s response.
“On being informed of this, Dame Cressida Dick has said she will be standing aside. It’s clear that the only way to start to deliver the scale of the change required is to have new leadership right at the top of the Metropolitan police.
“I will now work closely with the home secretary on the appointment of a new commissioner so that we can move quickly to restore trust in the capital’s police service while keeping London safe.”
The souring of relations with Khan to the point where they became terminal came after the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) revealed shocking details of messages shared by Met officers between 2016 – the year before Dick became commissioner – and 2018.
The London mayor was angered because, of the 14 officers investigated at Charing Cross police station, nine remain in the Met. Furthermore, two were promoted from constable to sergeant, one of whom had attended a misconduct meeting.
After details of the sickening messages – including remarks about the deaths of African babies – were made public, the mayor called Dick to a meeting where 90 minutes of discussions left him unsatisfied. One City Hall source said: “In short, she just didn’t get it.”
The Met commissioner is picked by the home secretary who has to have due regard for the views of London’s mayor, who is also the police and crime commissioner for London.
The move by Khan to say he had no confidence in Dick was a bold and risky one, and it was clear some in the Met thought it was wrong. Ken Marsh, chair of the powerful Met Federation, representing rank and file officers, said: “Her removal leaves a void in the leadership of London and UK policing at what is a critical time.
“Cressida Dick should have been given the opportunity and the necessary time to build back trust in the Metropolitan police service. She has been denied that. She should have been treated better.”
A series of scandals that raised questions about the police’s treatment of women also helped diminish Dick’s commissionership.
The Met leadership’s handling of the murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 by a serving Met officer also caused consternation in City Hall and government.
After her killer was sentenced to a whole-life term in September 2021, the Met leadership was expected to show it understood the concerns. Instead, it was mocked after saying that women who were worried about an officer approaching them could wave down a bus.
The Met announced its own inquiry, as have the government.
Ruth Davison, of the charity Refuge, backed Dick’s ousting: “Cressida Dick presided over an institution that saw police officers displaying misogynistic behaviour and committing horrific acts of violence against women, time and time again.
“But one resignation at the top doesn’t mean the police have solved their misogyny problem. The police service in this country needs root and branch reform.”
Dick was also personally criticised for the obstruction of an official inquiry into police corruption. The panel investigating the 1987 unsolved murder of Daniel Morgan lambasted Dick and labelled the Met as “institutionally corrupt”, which Dick denies.
A big expansion of stop and search resulted in falling confidence in policing in black communities, and confidence generally in the Met fell dramatically during Dick’s term in office.
Highly intelligent and hard working, Dick, who earned a £230,000 salary, was said to have the demeanour of a civil service permanent secretary rather than a stereotypical police officer.
It is unclear how long she will stay as a caretaker commissioner – some sources have suggested just weeks.