Worse and worse

First we find out that the London Metropolitan Police lied to the public about the execution of Jean Charles de Menezes; now we discover that the commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, also tried to stop an independent inquiry into the shooting. Instead, he wanted an in-house whitewash in order to avoid damaging the morale of the armed police unit responsible for the killing - people's self-esteem clearly being more important than the fact that an innocent man had just been killed under extremely questionable circumstances.

But as if that's not bad enough, it gets worse. Having been overruled, Sir Ian then kept the Independent Police Complaints Commission away from the crime scene for three days. Normal practice would have seen them there within hours. He deliberately impeded the investigation into de Menezes death, while he and his spokespeople tried to lie and spin their way out of trouble by demonising their victim (par for the course for the Met, it seems).

Having this sort of tragic mistake happen on your watch is one thing - but to try and cover it up and prevent an independent investigation from establishing the facts is quite another. Sir Ian Blair is guilty of an extraordinary attempt at a cover-up, and there is only one honourable course open to him: he should resign.