Pressure grows on Sir Ian Blair

The press this morning are almost unanimous in calling for Sir Ian Blair to resign. While we should not forget that the Met was operating under incredible pressure that day in almost panic conditions, the verdict does reveal a devastating set of failures. It is hard to see how Sir Ian Blair can restore the public’s confidence in the police.

Yet judging from Ken Livingstone’s combative defence of him on The Today Programme this morning, Blair won’t be forced out. The Livingstone interview is well worth listening to in full. It is quite incredible to hear Red Ken defending the police chief over the killing of an innocent foreigner, one can only imagine how Livingstone the opposition politician would have reacted to a set of events like this.

Those who remember how Blair called the RUC an ‘almost completely paramilitary organisation’ and Livingstone’s eagerness to talk to the Sinn Fein leadership in the 1980s, could be forgiven a rye smile as both men try to explain the unique pressures that fighting terrorism puts on a police force.