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Who is saying What, Why, When and Where

Headline:

I pray every day there is not another teen killing

Synopsis:

As Boris Johnson announces his radical new anti-knife crime initiative today, the question as to who will help to make it work on the streets the next Met Commissioner hangs in the air.

For Kit Malthouse, the deputy mayor in charge of policing and who will have to work closely with Sir Ian Blair's successor, it is critical that the next Met Chief should be "on the same page" and have a "laser-like focus on reducing teenage crime". It is a focus, he felt a "too distracted" Blair had lost.

But how does Malthouse, 42, who as vice-chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority is in charge of the day-to-day running of the MPA and has more influence over Boris's decision than anyone else, rate the leading contenders?

Insiders say it is shaping up as a two-horse race between the current Deputy Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and Sir Hugh Orde, the Chief Constable of Northern Ireland. Malthouse, for one, seems content not to encourage other applicants. But surely, I put it to him, the whole idea of getting rid of Blair is, as Boris said, "to have a fresh start"?

Publish date:

3 November 2008

Author:

David Cohen

Source:

Evening Standard

Media:

Access Interview