Met police work will continue, says Theresa May

The vital work of the Metropolitan Police must and will continue following the resignations of two senior figures amid the fallout of the phone-hacking scandal, Home Secretary Theresa May said today.

Her statement to the Commons came hours after Assistant Commissioner John Yates said he was standing down, while Sir Paul Stephenson resigned as Metropolitan Police Commissioner last night.

Mrs May said it was imperative to get to the bottom of allegations about police corruption in the light of the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of the News of the World.

"I want hon members, Londoners and the whole country to know that the important work of the Met - its national responsibilities like counter-terrorism operations as well as policing our capital city - must and will continue," she told MPs.

"The Met is the largest police force in the country, and has important national responsibilities beyond its role policing our capital.

"The next Metropolitan Police Commissioner will lead thousands of fine police officers, community support officers and staff, the great majority of whom have spent their careers dedicated to protecting the public - often at risk to their own safety.

"I know that the whole House will agree with me that it is for the sake of the many thousands of honourable police officers and staff, as well as for the public they serve, that we must get to the bottom of all of these allegations.

"Only then will we be able to ensure the integrity of our police and public confidence in them to do their vital work."

Mrs May said she was "sorry" Sir Paul had taken the decision to stand down and added that the Met was "stronger operationally today than it was when he took over".

Sir Paul, who will leave his post as "swiftly as possible", will be replaced by Tim Godwin as acting commissioner. He previously filled the role when Sir Paul was ill between December and April this year.

"With Tim Godwin as acting commissioner, the mayor (Boris Johnson) and I are clear that additional resilience is essential from outside the Metropolitan Police," she said.

"I am therefore pleased to announce that Bernard Hogan-Howe has agreed to take on the responsibilities of deputy commissioner on a temporary basis.

"We are looking to expedite the process for selecting and appointing the next commissioner."

The Home Secretary also thanked Mr Yates for his work.

"I want to put on the record my gratitude to John Yates for the work he has done while I've been Home Secretary to develop and improve counter-terrorism policing in London and indeed across the whole country," she said.

"I can confirm to the House that Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick will take over his role."

Mrs May said Operation Weeting - the investigation into phone hacking led by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers - was "proceeding apace, with officers interrogating evidence that was neglected first time round".

Operation Elveden, also led by Sue Akers, is investigating allegations that police officers have received payments from the Press in return for information.

Elveden has independent oversight by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) so as soon as individual suspected officers have been identified, IPCC investigators will lead an independent investigation of those officers.

Mrs May said: "In the future, both of these matters will be considered by the Leveson Inquiry established by the Prime Minister.

"In the meantime, I can tell the House that Elizabeth Filkin, the former Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, has provisionally agreed to examine the ethical considerations that should, in future, underpin the relationships between the Metropolitan Police and the media, how to ensure maximum transparency and public confidence, and provide advice.

"The management board of the Met has agreed a new set of guidelines relating to relationships with the media, including recording meetings and hospitality and publication on the internet."

The Home Secretary said she had also asked Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) to consider "instances of undue influence, inappropriate contractual arrangements and other abuses of power in police relationships with the media and other parties".

She said it was natural for people to question "who polices the police".

"I've already asked Jane Furniss, the chief executive of the IPCC, whether she has the power and the resources to get done the immediate work at hand.

"She has assured me that they do, but additional resources will be made available to the IPCC if they are needed.

"I can also tell the House that I have commissioned work to consider whether the IPCC needs further powers, including whether it should be given the power to question civilian witnesses during the course of their investigations.

"Given that the IPCC can at present only investigate specific allegations against individual officers, I have also asked whether the Commission needs to have a greater role in investigating allegations about institutional failings of a force or forces."

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper praised Sir Paul's "excellent work" as Met Commissioner, saying his resignation was "an honourable decision to protect the ongoing operational work of the Met from the ongoing speculation".

She also lauded Mr Yates' "vital role" leading the counter-terrorism command.

But she said Sir Paul and Mr Yates' departures - which followed the revelation that former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis acted as a PR advisor to the Met - raised "very serious questions for the Home Secretary and Prime Minister".

Ms Cooper said: "The truth is the Met Commissioner and the head of counter-terrorism have now gone because of questions about this crisis and about the appointment of the former deputy editor of the News of the World.

"Yet the Prime Minister is still refusing to answer questions or apologise for his appointment of the editor of the News of the World.

"The judgment of the Met has been called into serious question by appointing Neil Wallis, but so has the judgment of the Prime Minister in appointing Neil Wallis' boss Andy Coulson.

"People will look at this and think it is one rule for the police and one rule for the Prime Minister."

She said David Cameron's judgment in giving Mr Coulson "a second chance" when he made him his director of communications would affect public confidence in the Government's ability to "sort this crisis out".

Ms Cooper said Mr Cameron was "compromised" by his continuing friendship with Mr Coulson and said the hacking scandal and subsequent fall-out showed Mrs May should review the Government's flagship policing policy for elected commissioners.

But Mrs May said the episode underlines why reform is needed and accused Ms Cooper of the "politics of 'have your cake and eat it"', branding her call "opportunism".

Mrs May dismissed comparisons between Sir Paul's employment of Mr Wallis and Mr Cameron giving Mr Coulson a job, saying: "Of course there is difference between the Met and the Government.

"The Metropolitan Police were investigating allegations of wrongdoing at the News of the World.

"It is absolutely right there should be a line between the investigators and the investigated."

She stressed she had concerns over Sir Paul's choice not to tell the Prime Minister or herself about Mr Wallis's job with the force.

"When they think there is a conflict of interest, that should be made transparent," she said.

Labour's former home secretary Jack Straw said Sir Paul's decision not to reveal Mr Wallis's role as PR adviser was "entirely proper and consistent with Sir Paul's level of integrity that, unusually, he decided he couldn't disclose information to the Home Secretary because of what he perceived to be a conflict of interest at the heart of Government".

But Mrs May told him: "The police should be able to investigate every allegation and chase evidence as far as it takes them without fear or favour.

"When a conflict of interest is raised ... that should be made transparent and that's why I believe I should have been told earlier."

Mrs May said she expected the IPCC to report before the end of the summer and stressed that Mr Cameron had put "no pressure whatsoever" on her or Mr Johnson to "bring about" Sir Paul's resignation.

Senior Labour backbencher Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester Gorton) called on Mr Cameron to "consider his position" in the wake of the scandal following the flurry of resignations since Friday.

Sir Gerald said: "Since Sir Paul Stephenson said in his resignation statement that he could not speak to the Prime Minister about Neil Wallis because of the Prime Minister's employment of Andy Coulson at 10 Downing Street, and since the Prime Minister took Andy Coulson into his employment after Coulson confessed to the Culture, Media and Sport (Select) Committee that he had committed criminality - namely, the payment of police - ought not the the Prime Minister to be considering his position?"

Fellow Labour MP Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) went further and demanded Mr Cameron's resignation.

He said: "The 'firestorm' the Prime Minister referred to a few days ago has turned into a raging inferno around the Government's head.

"People are resigning at (businesses owned by Rupert) Murdoch, people are being arrested all over the place and yet only one area remains intact - Millionaires' Row, the Government bench.

"When is Dodgy Dave going to do the decent thing and resign?"

Tory Mark Reckless (Rochester and Strood), a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, pointed to a statement made by Sir Paul at a conference of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) in 2009.

"This suggests it was not John Yates who limited the review then to less than a day but the Commissioner himself," he said.

Mrs May said he could address this point to Sir Paul and Mr Yates at tomorrow's committee hearing.

Labour's Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) said: "The Metropolitan Police have had the names of thousands of UK citizens whose phones have been hacked into for a very long time.

"Have all of those people who have had their phones hacked into been informed of this by the police?"

Mrs May said the police had made clear they were alerting victims where they found evidence.

"I would caution you on your assumption that everybody's name who appears on a list necessarily has had their phone hacked into," she said.

Labour's Jeremy Corbyn (Islington N) asked what the Home Secretary had meant when she said she was "sorry" to see Sir Paul resign.

"Does that mean that you think he shouldn't have resigned, that he shouldn't have carried on despite this cloud around his head?" he asked.

"Or is it crocodile tears to cover the fact that you asked him to resign?"

Mrs May confirmed she had not asked Sir Paul to resign, adding: "As far as I'm concerned, nobody asked him to resign. This was a decision taken by Sir Paul Stephenson.

"I am sorry that he decided to resign, I've said that several times. I think under his leadership, the Met has done excellent work in protecting the public and cutting crime and fighting crime.

"He led the Met through some very difficult times, he took it over at a difficult time and I think he has made the force operationally stronger."

Senior Labour MP Chris Leslie (Nottingham E) asked whether the Prime Minister and Mr Coulson knew of the appointment of Mr Wallis by the Met.

Mrs May said: "The appointment of Neil Wallis, or to be correct of Chamy Media, was undertaken not under this Government but in September 2009 under the last government."

After Labour's Chuka Umunna (Streatham) pressed the minister, she replied: "As far as I'm aware, no they did not know."

Labour's Mike Gapes said: "In view of the remarks by the Mayor of London about these phone-hacking allegations being 'politically motivated' and 'codswallop', do you believe he is a fit and proper person to be involved in the appointment of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police?"

Mrs May said: "Yes."

Tory Therese Coffey (Suffolk Coastal), a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, asked whether Sir Paul or Mr Yates would be able to take up a position at Acpo or other policing agencies following their resignations.

The Home Secretary said: "I think it is the case to say Sir Paul Stephenson and Assistant Commissioner Yates will not be taking up any such places."

Labour's John Mann (Bassetlaw) asked when Mr Cameron's chief of staff Ed Llewellyn had passed the "Guardian dossier" to the Home Office.

Mrs May said: "I'm not aware there was a Guardian dossier. There was information that was generally available in public.

"But there is an issue here about the role of the Home Office which I think sometimes members of the opposition fail to grasp.

"It is not the job of politicians to tell the police who to investigate or who to arrest. It will be a very sorry day for our police and for our democracy when we go down that road."

Labour's Michael McCann (E Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow) accused the Home Secretary of "chasing this issue since day one".

"It's taken two high-profile resignations to place just a semblance of respectability on an affair which every dog on the street knows stinks," he said.

"Is it right that Sir Paul Stephenson resigns for Mr Neil Wallis but the Prime Minister gets off scot-free for hiring not the monkey but the organ-grinder Andy Coulson?"

Mrs May pointed out that the DCMS committee had reported in 2002 that reporters were making illegal payments to police officers, adding: "The Labour government did absolutely nothing.

Senior Labour MP Chris Bryant (Rhondda) said: "I'm afraid I welcome the two resignations today because I think that Assistant Commissioner Yates, by his own admission, misled Parliament.

"And the relationship between the News of the World and the Metropolitan Police became so close as frankly to be collusive.

"We had this ludicrous situation where Andy Hayman was leaving the employment of the Metropolitan Police to work for News International, and Neil Wallis was leaving News International to work with the Metropolitan Police.

"That cannot be good for the Metropolitan Police in the end."

And he warned that "collusion" between the Press and police was not limited to the Met.

He urged Mrs May to ensure there was a proper investigation into Surrey Police and "what happened between the police officers in charge of the investigation following Milly Dowler's disappearance and death, and the News of the World and other journalists at that time".

Mrs May said concerns had been raised about other forces.

"That is why I'm asking the HMIC to look more closely across policing at these issues, including issues of abuse of power," she said.