UK
Former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Ian Blair has died
Former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Ian Blair has died aged 72.
Lord Blair led the force for three years between 2005 and 2008 and was in charge during the 7/7 London bombings.
The 20th anniversary of the 2005 attack, which killed 52 people, was on Monday.
The Met’s response notoriously included the shooting dead of an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes, at Stockwell Tube station two weeks later.
He was killed under the mistaken belief he was a suicide bomber.
False details about how he acted were put out by the Met, insinuating the Brazilian was in some way responsible for what happened.
Lord Blair repeated those details and was later accused of a cover-up and obstructing inquiries into the incident.
Jean Charles de Menezes was mistakenly shot dead on the Tube. Pic: Reuters
Sky News crime correspondent Martin Brunt said “it effectively blighted his time as commissioner” and that “history will probably judge him quite harshly”.
“But there were good things,” he added.
“[Lord Blair] took hold of the Met and forged a much better relationship with MI5 in the wake of the 7/7 bombings.
“Some of his big things were diversity and he reformed the way the Met recruited – people from ethnic communities.
“He was a big supporter of neighbourhood policing. Although that, over the years, dwindled due to a lack of funding. But it’s more or less the model police forces across Britain are reintroducing.”
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Lord Blair quit his role in 2008 after saying he didn’t have the confidence of then-mayor Boris Johnson.
Viewed as a liberal figure, he was sometimes jokingly referred to as “PC Blair” by other officers.
He joined the police in the 1970s and served with other forces before joining the Met. His early work as a detective in London included investigating the fatal 1987 King’s Cross fire.
Senior positions for the Thames Valley and Surrey forces followed before he returned to the capital as deputy commissioner – and then the top job.
Lord Blair was a crossbench peer and was active in the House of Lords right up until his death.