LONDON Mayor Sadiq Khan has branded an investigation into the handling of former Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick’s exit from the force “biased” and “flawed.”  

Mr Khan disputed the findings of Sir Tom Windsor’s 116-page report, which concluded Dame Cressida had “felt intimidated into stepping down.” 

At the London Assembly police and crime committee today, Mr Khan said it was a “matter of public record” that Sir Tom has a “close association with the former commissioner.”

Dame Cressida said previously that she had been forced to resign after Mr Khan said he had lost confidence in her leadership over her failure to recognise and address problems of misogyny and racism in the force. 

Sir Tom’s report into the handling of her exit claimed that Mr Khan had not followed “due process” when he withdrew his support.  

He told the committee that the mayor was responsible for the delay in the report’s publication from six weeks to nearly six months. 

“The degree of engagement was remarkably slight,” said Sir Tom, who added that he was only able to interview Mr Khan for 90 minutes.

Hitting back at the claims, Mr Khan said: “The view of me and others is that the process is flawed. We all know it’s a matter of public record, Sir Tom’s close association with the former commissioner.

“In Sir Tom’s own words, he’s given more weight to those of police officers than from others and the conclusions of Sir Tom weren’t a surprise to many.”

He later told the committee that details of deeply offensive racist, misogynist and homophobic messages shared by officers based at Charing Cross being published by a watchdog in January were “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”