The search for a new metropolitan police commissioner has been limited to the latter two: Mark Rowley, a former anti-terrorism chief, or Nick Effrave, now part of the top leadership of the enemy forces.
The process of electing Cressida Dick’s deputy led to the elimination of three other candidates before the interviews.
The 57-year-old Rowley left the Met in 2018 and will now be seen as a strong favorite to become the top police officer in the UK. It’s kind of a resurrection: he last applied in 2017, but lost to Dick and has been working in the private sector since leaving police four years ago.
The next stage is expected to be an interview by an expert panel, whose job is usually to narrow the field to the last two, but this has already been done. The last two candidates then faced interviews with Interior Minister Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The Commissioner for the London Forces is elected by the Secretary of the Interior, who must take into account the opinion of the Mayor, who is also the Commissioner for Police and Crime in London.
The big hurdle for 56-year-old Effgrave was his time as Dick’s senior lieutenant, as Matt swayed from crisis to crisis and public confidence collapsed. He served in the Met, including as a detective, before leaving to be deputy chief of police in Surrey in 2013. He rejoined the Met in 2019 as an assistant commissioner and has led the front-line police for the past two years. This includes local officials.
Nick Effrave testified before the Municipal Justice Committee. Photo: PA Images / Alamy
He was Met’s public face instead of Dick after convicting Wayne Cousins of killing Sarah Everard. During a press conference, he suggested that women alarmed by a police officer approaching them on the street could take a bus. He added that the scandal meant that Met had to “study his own culture”.
Rowley was close to the last commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, who is believed not to have been impressed by Matt’s leadership for the past five years.
The rejected senior police chiefs were eliminated after a commission read their written statements. Sean Sawyer, the veteran Devon and Cornwall Chief of Staff who has served in the Metro for more than two decades, has been reinstated.
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John Butcher, a former Bedfordshire police officer, was also eliminated over the weekend without an interview. He used to be a prominent counter-terrorism detective and was ahead of his peers, seeing that racial issues still affected law enforcement while he was boss.
Also eliminated is Mike Bush, a former New Zealand police chief – a rare overseas candidate for the top job in Britain’s police force – who was seen as a reformer during his rule.
An advertisement for the role, issued by the Home Office and the Mayor of London, said the next commissioner should address the “serious gaps” in the Met. Both of the last candidates were Surrey’s chief police officers.
Dick resigned in February after Hahn was convinced she could not pull Matt out of the crisis. She retains support among significant parts of Matt’s leadership.
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