In British Politics there are few characters more eccentric than Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and for all his strengths and many weaknesses it is hard to imagine anyone wanting to treat him as a role model in the normal sense of that word. However in the period between 15th September 2011 when the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill was passed and 15th November 2012 when the first PCC elections took place, it was Boris who was frequently referred to by a string of Politicians as the role model for the PCC’s (or the reason why the policy was a mistake). As Mayor of London he is the PCC for the Metropolitan Police, the largest Police force in England & Wales by some margin. As Mayor he obviously has many other responsibilities and so he nominated one of his colleagues, Stephen Greenhalgh to be Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime to run the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) on behalf of Boris, delivering his crime-fighting priorities and holding the Police to account.

The tragic and shocking allegations by Peter Francis that as an Officer of the Metropolitan Police, he was put under pressure to spy on the family of Stephen Lawrence in the aftermath of Stephens murder have forced those with political responsibility to speak out. The Metropolitan Police does have some national areas of responsibility (although my own view is this needs to change as I have written previously) known as Specialist Operations. These include responsibility for the Royal Family and other heads of State or their embassies, protection for the Government and for two London Airports, and responsibility for Counter Terrorism. Although the murder of Stephen Lawrence was arguably the most significant racist murder in our nations history, the detailed aspects fall under the role of the Met in its local Policing role and so the comments by Theresa May and other national Politicians should be additional to the comments by the Metropolitan Police PCC who is responsible for all elements of the Policing of London. However the only interview on this issue that is circulating, of the normally publicity hungry Mayor or his shy Deputy is of Boris speaking about the work of the Metropolitan Police as though he is simply yet another Londoner, not in the context of his legal responsibilities for the political governance of these Police Officers.

This is in contrast to the recent interviews of Ann Barnes who has been speaking as the Political leader of Kent Police regarding their failure to record crime correctly. In Anns case there are of course questions due to her previous role as Chair of the Police Authority, but at least she is not pretending that the Police are an agency that she has no responsibility for. If the allegations of Peter Francis are proven, it should be Boris (or Stephen) sitting alongside Bernard Hogan Howe to explain what went wrong (albeit several decades ago before any of them came into post). If Boris was the forerunner of PCCs it would appear that some of them have overtaken him and the gap appears to be widening.