HARDtalk - Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner 2005 - 2008

"The most challenging police job in the world". That's how the man who headed up both the New York and Los Angeles police, Bill Bratton, described the most senior police post in Britain. The Commissioner of the Metropolitan police has a budget of 3 billion pounds, a staff of 53,000 and has to keep both politicians and public happy. Sir Ian Blair says it is an almost impossible task. He was in the post until a year ago when he was forced out by the Mayor of London. He's now warning about the politicisation of policing in Britain and calling for a national inquiry into the future of the force. Sir Ian Blair talks to Sarah Montague.