A public discredit

The Guardian reports:

The Liberal Democrats called for the resignation of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair after his force was found guilty of breaching health and safety laws over the shooting of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes. Home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said: "This guilty verdict makes it unavoidable that Ian Blair should take responsibility on behalf of his whole organisation and resign."

The favourite in the party's leadership contest went on: "Whilst the ruling undoubtedly raises complex questions about future police operations, the simple priority today is to show that we have a police force in London which is prepared to accept full responsibility for its actions."

Indeed; I am with the Liberal Democrats on this. I wrote this piece 18 months ago, which concluded:

From the outset of the de Menezes inquiry — literally from the day of Mr de Menezes’s death — the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, has given an unmistakable impression of a lack of seriousness. Sir Ian wrote to the Home Office immediately after the killing to say he would not allow access to Stockwell station for IPCC staff. It is not a witch-hunt, but a response to a man lacking a sense of public duty, to demand that restitution to the de Menezes family start with Sir Ian’s dismissal.

If Sir Ian doesn't go voluntarily, he must now be sacked.