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London: Boris Johnson on Thursday claimed he ousted Sir Ian Blair because he felt he could not shirk his responsibility to Londoners.
The mayor denied he had set out to sack the Metropolitan Police Commissioner from the start, saying he had consulted widely on his decision before asking him to go.
He claimed Sir Ian had taken the choice to stand down himself but could have technically stayed on as Britain's most senior police officer.
Johnson is now engaged in a behind the scenes struggle with Home Secretary Jacqui Smith over the appointment of Sir Ian's successor.
"Sir Ian has done a very good job of reducing crime across the board but without going into an item-by-item litany of difficulties, there's no doubt at all that the operational effectiveness of the Met was being compromised," he told the BBC's Today programme.
"This was a point being made to me not by Tories, not by people who had the remotest interest in me or my mayoralty, but by people who simply had the best interests of policing in London at heart. I felt that was in the end a responsibility I could not shirk."
However, Johnson was challenged by presenter John Humphrys over how widely he had in fact consulted on the decision to force out the Met chief.
Refused
The mayor refused to be drawn on how many members had been spoken to, saying: "Several members of the MPA were consulted either formally or informally about their views. I'm being deliberately vague.
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