Blair faces watchdog vote to force him out

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair was today preparing to face a vote of no confidence as calls mounted for him to be sacked.

The future for the 54-year-old Met chief appeared increasingly bleak after his force was found guilty over the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was mistaken for a suicide bomber.

An emergency meeting of the force's watchdog, the Metropolitan Police Authority, has been called to decide on his future.

At least four members of the group have publicly declared he should go and as many as 10 of the 23 members are said to be lining up to vote against him or abstain. Tory home affairs spokesman David Davis urged the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to sack the beleaguered police chief.

Senior officials in the Home Office are now said to be preparing an emergency plan to put in place if Sir Ian quits or is forced to go. Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary and former head of the RUC, could be parachuted into the job as a temporary measure.

One chief constable has told the Evening Standard that he and a handful of senior officers outside Scotland Yard have been approached individually within recent weeks to see if they would be willing to run for the post. Sir Ian was back at work at his desk today, defying pressure to go. A close aide said: "It's business as usual."

Yesterday Sir Ian, who was in court to hear the verdict, expressed his "deep regret" but said the case showed no evidence of systematic failure by the force. He was bolstered by statements of support from the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary.

However, calls for his resignation grew after the Old Bailey jury found his force guilty of serious failures leading to the death of Mr de Menezes. The Met was fined £175,000 and ordered to pay £385,000 costs after being convicted of exposing the public to risk under health and safety legislation. After the verdict, the family and friends of Mr de Menezes also called for officers to resign. His mother Maria said : "Sir Ian should think about what his men have done to my son and consider resigning."

Mr de Menezes, 27, an electrician, was shot by firearms officers at Stockwell Underground station. The court heard how there were a "catastrophic" series of blunders which led to surveillance and firearms teams believing they were on the trail of a suicide bomber. The shooting on 22 July 2005 took place a day after four suicide bombers tried to attack London and went on the run when their devices failed.

The Met will face further damaging details about the shooting and the events leading up to the killing when the Independent Police Complaints Commission publishes a full report into the incident week.

The report is expected to recommend disciplinary action against four officers - including Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, who led the firearms operation from Scotland Yard.

Sir Ian faces the MPA vote of no confidence after Tory member Richard Barnes called an emergency meeting . He said: "The judge and the jury said no individual should be responsible but that means the corporate body must accept that responsibility. In this case that is the commissioner."

In contrast, former senior London policeman Brian Paddick has called for restraint. He told the BBC's Question Time that Sir Ian should await the results of the IPCC report before making a decision. "There is still a lot of evidence to come out," he said.

Ken Livingstone described the verdict as "disastrous" for future anti-terrorist operations. The Mayor said: "I think this is disastrous if an armed police officer believes they are in pursuit of a terrorist who might be a suicide bomber and they start making these sort of calculations - 'how is this going to be seen? Am I going to be hauled before a court?'

"At the end of the day mistakes are always going to be made in wars and situations like this."