A tough Question Time for Jacqui Smith

HOME Secretary Jacqui Smith used an appearance on Question Time to launch a fierce and detailed attack on Boris Johnson for forcing out Sir Ian Blair.

Here is the transcript of what she said.

Were you sidestepped in Sir Ian Blair's resignation?

The first thing to say about Ian Blair is he has actually done a very good job as commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Not only in terms of the job he has done in London, but in his national role as well because the role of the Metropolitan Commissioner in addressing terrorism is as important on the streets of Birmingham as it is on the streets of London. The second point is when you actually ask someone as we do with the Metropolitan Commissioner to do a difficult and demanding job as an elected politician you should give that person the support to do it. The third thing is, as Sir Ian has made clear, it was because the Mayor said on his first day as chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority that he didn't feel he had confidence in Sir Ian that he took the decision to resign, which I accepted when he came to talk to me about it today.

Would you have chosen him for another term?

I don't think Sir Ian had ever suggested he wanted to serve another term but what is important when you are choosing and supporting someone you are asking to do a job like that is you keep party politics out of it. You are careful that the processes that are in place are followed carefully. You need to work alongside people and, frankly, you should put a bit of time and effort into that before you jump to judgment.

So you are powerless in the choice of who runs the biggest force in UK?

No, that's not the case. I've made clear today given that Sir Ian has made the decision to resign that I am starting the process to make sure we get a new Metropolitan Commissioner. As I have said this is a role that is so important, one for London but two for the country as a whole. And it's because that role is so important that I very much hope we will not get into a situation where politicians - of whatever colour - feel that they need to prove themselves through taking action against the person we are asking to do that job. The next person to carry out that difficult job deserves the support not only of the Home Secretary, but of other politicians with whom they have to work.

In response to Lord Heseltine, who criticised Sir Ian's record on the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and being investigated over contracts given to a friend:

There is a process in place for all the allegations you have suggested. The point is that, for whatever reason, the Mayor chose not to respect that process on his first day as chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority to take the decision that he took.

Was he right to allow himself to be pushed out?

If we think it's going to be easier to solve violent crime by criticising and removing our support from the senior police officers that we ask to do difficult jobs, without actually having spent any period of time trying to work alongside somebody, we'll be letting down not just the police but the people they serve as well.

Did you try to persuade Blair to stay? What does it say about your power as Home Secretary that you couldn't insist?

When somebody comes and says to you "I have decided I want to offer my resignation", I don't think it would have been the right thing to do for the people of London or for his national responsibilities to persuade him against what he had decided to do.