“Sir” Ian Blair addresses the troops:
“Our approach will be one of humility. On 22nd July 2005, we confidently believed that our systems of command, of surveillance and of firearms intervention were among the best in the world. However, they failed in response to a previously unforeseen circumstance, suicide bombers on the run.”
Well, it’s an admission of sorts. But it wasn’t all that unforeseen, was it? The Met had two plans in place, a static one (Operation C) to deal with an attacker at a major event and a mobile one (Operation KRATOS) to deal with…a suicide bomber on the loose in public.
They just didn’t decide which one fit the circumstances, came up with a dog’s breakfast of a hybrid instead, and then carried it out so poorly it would have been a disaster whatever the plan.
We haven’t had any Metropolitan Police blogging for a while, which is a pity given that “Sir” Ian seems to be bent on making enemies of literally everyone on the force. I can’t help thinking that Tarique Ghaffur and Ali Dizaei are making this into a personal vendetta, but then, who the hell wouldn’t?