Press Release Search
Search for press releasesAppointment Of Paul Stephenson As New Deputy Commissioner For The Metropolitan Police
26 January 2005
Home Secretary Charles Clarke today announced the appointment by Her Majesty the Queen of Paul Stephenson as the new Deputy Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police Service.
Mr Clarke said:
“I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Paul Stephenson as Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
“Paul has an excellent record, most recently as Chief Constable of Lancashire and as the Association of Chief Police Officers’ lead on crime. He leaves behind him a force which has become one of the highest performing in the country, with significant reductions in burglary, vehicle crime and robbery and a real commitment to citizen focussed policing.
“I am confident that, with his impressive experience and ability, he will make an enormous contribution to policing in the capital.”
Paul Stephenson takes over from Sir Ian Blair who is taking up the post of Metropolitan Police Commissioner on 1 February.
Notes to Editors:
1. For further information on the appointment, please contact the MPS press office on 020 7230 2171.
2. Paul Stephenson QPM is the first Deputy Commissioner to be appointed under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 and an appointment process which met the requirements of section 317 of the Act was agreed between the Home Secretary, Home Office minister Hazel Blears, Len Duvall the Chair of the MPA and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
3. S 317 states that, before recommending to Her Majesty the Queen whom to appoint as Deputy Commissioner, the Home Secretary shall have regard to any recommendations made by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) and any representations made by the Commissioner.
4. The selection process was agreed by the Home Secretary with the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Commissioner and met the principles set out in the Commissioner for Public Appointments' code of practice for ministerial appointments to public bodies. The process proceeded as follows:
· A joint Home Office/MPA advertisement was issued in Police Review and The Times;
· Applications were received;
· A selection panel chaired by Len Duvall, the Chair of the MPA was convened and interviewed candidates at the beginning of January. The panel comprised MPA members and Leigh Lewis,Home Office Permanent Secretary for Crime, Policing, Counter-Terrorism and Delivery with Sir Ronnie Flanagan, one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Constabulary as a professional adviser;
· Following interviews with the candidates, the selection panel put forward recommendations to the Home Secretary which reflected the representations of the Commissioner of the MPS;
· Sir Ian Blair’s views were also taken into consideration as Commissioner designate.
5. The salary for the Deputy Commissioner, agreed in the Police Negotiating Board in July 2004, is £182,826 per annum.
