Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Ian Blair Resigns

Blair, once dubbed New Labour's copper, has rarely been far from criticism since becoming commissioner in February 2005. The Oxford English language and literature graduate has twice resorted to quoting Mark Twain, saying that "reports of his demise are premature".

In recent months he was seen as reliant on the support of the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, and the new London mayor, Boris Johnson, to stay in his post. Blair forged a close working relationship with the former mayor, Ken Livingstone, but this week Johnson called for the mayor to have the power to hire and fire London police commissioners.

This week Johnson took over as chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority.

"I think it is for the good of the Met," a former Metropolitan police commander, John O'Connor, told Sky News about the commissioner's likely exit. "They have been suffering from the baggage of Ian Blair for too long. It has not done the reputation of the Met any good. He has been a lame duck for quite a long time."

Analysts suggested that Blair's deputy, Sir Paul Stephenson, could be temporarily put in charge of the force. Among those tipped to succeed Blair is the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Sir Hugh Orde.

Jenny Jones, a Green party member on the Metropolitan Police Authority, said :

"He hasn't helped himself. There have been lapses of judgment but the Tories have not got on well with him. I think the majority of police officers will breathe a sigh of relief that he has gone. I think they will regret that he has been hounded out of office.

"He put back bobbies on the beat and crime has gone down. He did incredibly well with the 7/7 bombings but then it all started to change after the shooting of De Menezes."

Blair's problems have been caused in part by a series of high-profile media gaffes and also by events at the Met, the most serious of which was the shooting dead of the Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes in the wake of the July 2005 bomb attacks on London.

The commissioner was criticised after the publication of the official Independent Police Complaints Commission report into the shooting of De Menezes, which found the police operation had been marred by confusion and a lack of resources.