IT DID not make much of a splash at the time, but, last month, the chairman of Credit Suisse, Sir António Horta-Osório, resigned with immediate effect after he was found to have broken Covid quarantine rules. The prominent banker, who was knighted last year for resuscitating Lloyds Banking Group after the financial crisis, was revealed to have travelled to London to attend the men’s singles final at Wimbledon and the Euro 2020 final at Wembley on the same day.
In contrast, Boris Johnson was this week twisting and turning to explain to the police how he was photographed at boozy rule-breaking parties that he previously told the House of Commons never happened. “I get it, and I’ll fix it,” he told MPs in another of his unapologetic apologies — evidently unaware of the ambiguity of the word “fix”.
The two men offer an interesting contrast in leadership styles.
Once, of course, leaders quit when things went wrong, even if it wasn’t their fault. Lord Carrington famously resigned after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, even though he had warned Margaret Thatcher against withdrawing Britain’s sole patrol vessel in the South Atlantic. His department had failed, and resignation was “the honourable thing”.
No longer. Minister after minister in the current Government has brazenly refused to resign, even when shown to be in the wrong. Priti Patel bullied civil servants. Robert Jenrick overruled the planning inspectorate to approve a £1-billion development by a Conservative donor. Gavin Williamson twice bungled the pandemic exam system. Dominic Raab was on holiday during the catastrophe in Afghanistan. No one resigned.
This is a Cabinet tainted by a shameless legacy of half-truths and lies. Its cavalier disregard for accountability and honesty is breathtaking.
It is in that context that we should see the departure of Dame Cressida Dick as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police after a catalogue of blunders. One of her serving police officers used his position to rape and murder Sarah Everard. Then police grotesquely mishandled the vigil to mourn her. Other officers photographed the bodies of two murdered sisters. Police homophobia allowed Stephen Port to continue murdering young gay men. An independent panel has found the force to be institutionally corrupt.
Dame Cressida tried to borrow Mr Johnson’s “I’ll fix it” tactic. But then the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who had extended her contract just five months ago, withdrew his support. Why was this?
The answer throws the spotlight on to the leadership of the Mayor of London. Earlier this month, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) exposed violently racist, misogynistic, and homophobic messages exchanged by officers from Charing Cross Police Station. Nine of these officers, Mr Khan discovered, were still serving. Two had even been promoted. Damningly, the IOPC report revealed that these issues were not isolated or historic.
Dame Cressida talked a good talk. But the Mayor suddenly was convinced that, however good an operational police officer she had been, she was not up to the task of changing something profoundly rotten in the culture of the capital’s police force. A key component of good leadership is accountability. And Mr Kahn knew that the time had now come for him to be accountable to a public whose trust in the police had been significantly eroded.
