Browse > Home / Life In The UK / The London Met Chief Resigns. Is The End Of Political Correctness Nigh?

The London Met Chief Resigns. Is The End Of Political Correctness Nigh?

October 3, 2008

The London Met Chief Resigns. Is The End Of Political Correctness Nigh?(I dedicate this article to Sonia, the wonderfully politically incorrect fashion designer from Paris, who has been reading my website since day one. Thanks, Sonia! You really have good taste.) Would you believe it: the most politically correct of the Metropolitan Police Commissioners in London’s history, Sir Ian Blair, has stepped down yesterday for personal reasons? As one of my friends joked, he probably resigned to spend more time with his family, especially his wife – Tony Blair.

My friend is a real funny man. Sometimes he says things that are utterly outrageous. Even for our website.

But seriously, Sir Ian was oozing PC from every pore and he had multiculturalism practically emblazed on his forehead. He even shared the name with the god of political correctness and multicultural spin, Tony ‘five times a night’ Blair. Blair the Prime Minister had appointed Blair the Met Chief in February 2005. They were close political and ideological allies and they really, really liked each other.

Right from the start of his career as the Metropolitan Commissioner Sir Ian signalled his determination to fight racism, homophobia and all other hate crimes. In fact, at times it seemed that the new Met Chief had decided to push murder, rape and burglary into the shadows and concentrate on fighting solely hate crimes of all kinds. Under his leadership the Met quickly turned into a force dedicated primarily to upholding political correctness and multiculturalism.

But then came the real test of Sir Ian’s leadership abilities when terrorists attacked London on 7/7 in 2005. And the Met Chief failed spectacularly. He tried to cover up the events that had resulted in the shooting of an innocent Brazilian, Jean Charles de Menezes, on the London Tube by armed police officers, who thought that he was a suicide bomber. The incident revealed a lot not only about Sir Ian but his subordinates too – because Menezes was wearing a T-shirt and a light jacket when he was killed.

Sir Ian – I call him Sir Ian, by the way, not because I like him very much but because you could get confused which one of the Blairs I actually mean – got away with the cover up of the Mendez affair because of his closeness to 10 Downing Street. He held doggedly to his post and refused to step down, even though his own force did not have much faith in him anymore.

But then in May 2008 Boris Johnson was elected as the new Mayor of London and things started to look really gloomy for Sir Ian. The new Mayor did not really hide his dislike for the Met Commissioner. In fact, he was very open about it, but Sir Ian continued to stand firm. He just would not resign. He loved his job too much. Way, way too much.

And then came the unthinkable – one by one his own senior officers started accusing him and the Met of racial discrimination. It was absolutely amazing to see Sir Ian, that prophet of PC, being criticised for being politically incorrect. In fact, so scandalous had the case of the most senior Asian policeman in the Met, Tarique Ghaffur, had become that Sir Ian was forced to suspend him.

It was a clear indication that political correctness in the Met had started to destroy itself from within. Sir Ian was in essence mortally wounded by PC – not ‘a PC’ but just ‘PC’ – that he had worshipped religiously throughout his whole career in the police.

There were other less serious wounds inflicted on him too, of course, like accusations of dodgy contracts being awarded by the Met to a man who knew Sir Ian and of political bias in the force.

The final straw that broke Sir Ian’s back was Boris Johnson taking over this week the chairmanship of the Metropolitan Police Authority. Mayor Johnson summoned Sir Ian and told him to go. In a way that left no doubt that he was no longer needed to run the Met. The great hero of PC, Sir Ian, summoned a press conference the next day and, lips trembling, announced that he was stepping down. Although everyone knew, of course, that he was kicked up the arse by good old Boris.

Some lefties immediatelly said that Sir Ian had become a victim of ‘political football’. OK, if they want to call it that it’s all right with me. I still say that he was kicked up the arse.

Now, you can call me a cynic and an inconsiderate man, but I personally think that Sir Ian’s sins that I have listed above pale into insignificance with the one big misdemeanour that he has committed during his time as the Met Chief. It so happened that he had allowed the investigation into the cash for peerages scandal by the Met to effectively collapse. If some of you don’t remember, I will gladly remind you: the Met was asked by one of the members of parliament to investigate allegations that the then Prime Minister Tony Blair and some of his closest people have been giving out peerages for donations to the Labour party. These donations were used to buy the General Election in 2005 which, if not for the huge illegal funding, Labour would have lost because its popularity by then had slumped as a result of the Iraqi war.

The cops were closing in on the conspirators at 10 Downing Street, Blair included, but at some point the whole investigation somehow got stuck and, eventually, a watered down report was produced and the Crown Prosecution Service later found no grounds to charge anyone. Which was outrageous, of course.

You don’t need to be a great detective to figure out that Sir Ian must have had something to do with all this. Considering that he was a close friend of the other Blair. Tony, that is. So in the light of all this it would be great if Mayor Johnson would order an investigation into the way the whole cash for peerages scandal had been handled by the Met.

But the most important thing off all, of course, is that political correctness has shot itself in the foot. Like a scorpion, that bites itself out of spite, PC has claimed the scalp of one of its own grandees.

Is the end of PC nigh? I sincerely hope so.

Related posts:

  1. Political Correctness Is Dangerous For Your Health, Study Shows

    Doctor Stanley Unattractive writes: Research conducted recently on a million people across Europe has shown that political correctness, as a chosen sick and twisted way...

  2. Political Correctness. And The Hell It Originated From

    Anton Goryunov writes from Moscow: It is time to examine the phenomenon of political correctness. Or rather, the hell it originated from. Political correctness,...

  3. Political Correctness Is Cool And Sexy, BBC Says. Plus It Helps Us Make Better Programmes

    Anton Goryunov writes: Leaked documents reveal that the British Broadcasting Corporation has been using sophisticated techniques to hire people who hold politically correct views....

  4. Vote For Ken As London Mayor. Boris Would Be A Disaster

    I never thought I would say this but it would probably be better for everyone if Ken Livingstone stayd on as London’s Mayor after the...

  5. We Remind Our Readers How We Tried To Avert A Disaster Happening In London. And Failed

    In March last year I posted an article on this website warning our London readers that it was not a good idea to elect Boris...

Category: Life In The UK  · No Comments »
Tags: , , ,

Would you like to add a comment?