Sadiq Khan: London mayor denies making Cressida Dick ultimatum

Dame Cressida Dick resigned last week after losing the confidence of Sadiq Khan

The mayor of London has denied issuing an ultimatum to Dame Cressida Dick to fire officers involved in the Charing Cross case or be sacked herself.

Officers at the central London police station were revealed to have sent racist and misogynistic messages.

Newspapers have reported Dame Cressida told senior Met Police colleagues that Sadiq Khan had threatened to sack her.

Mr Khan said: "It is not the case that the commissioner was given an ultimatum to sack them or she would be sacked."

Dame Cressida resigned as Met Police commissioner last week, having lost the support of the mayor.

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Speaking to LBC radio, Mr Khan said some of the reporting about the fallout had been accurate, explaining it was correct that he had been "angered and disgusted" by what a number of serving Metropolitan Police based at Charing Cross had said.

"I was concerned about the impact on trust and confidence," he told the radio station.

Mr Khan says it is "not the case" that the Met Police's outgoing commissioner was given an ultimatum to sack or be sacked

The mayor said the Met Police had "deep cultural issues", including "overt racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, discrimination".

Mr Khan added, though, that there had been improvements at the force since he was a child, saying: "There are so many decent dedicated, brave officers. But there has got to be an acknowledgement that there are deep cultural issues."He said victims of serious crimes including rape, sexual abuse and knife crime "are not coming forward because they don't trust the police". He said witnesses were also not coming forward in some cases.

Mr Khan is due to work with Home Secretary Priti Patel to find a replacement for Dame Cressida.

While the home secretary holds the power over the appointment, she must take the Labour mayor's views into account.