London mayor Boris Johnson has refused to be drawn on whether David Cameron should resign over the appointment of Andy Coulson, following the departure of Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates after the discovery that Coulson's former deputy Neil Wallis was employed by the Met.
At a press conference following the resignation of the Met assistant commissioner Yates, Johnson said: "I'm not here to discuss government appointments, I'm here to talk about events in the Metropolitan police service. Those questions you must direct to government."
Pressed on the fact that the prime minister's decision to call a public inquiry did put him in charge, Johnson retorted uneasily: "This is a matter you must frankly direct to Number 10 Downing Street, and I suggest you ask them."
The London mayor insisted five days ago that Yates should remain in the assistant commissioner post to continue his valuable work in counter-terrorism.
Asked what Yates had done wrong since to warrant his sudden departure, Johnson admitted he didn't know the exact details that led to Yates' suspension by the MPA's sub committee because "I wasn't there".
But he said more questions had been asked about the relationship about John Yates and Neil Wallis which the MPA felt needed to be looked into.
He confirmed that the deputy commissioner, Tim Godwin, would run Scotland Yard until Stephenson's replacement is appointed.
"Whatever mistakes may have been made at any level in the police service, now is the time to clear them up," said Johnson. "Now is the time to get to the bottom of all these questions and give a new commissioner plenty of time to get his or her feet under the desk, build on the outstanding work of these two men and make London ever safer in the run-up to the Olympic Games."
Johnson denied that there had been a failure of political leadership over the affair pointing out that the original investigation began in 2006 – two years before he ousted Ken Livingston to be elected London mayor.
He said the "64 million dollar question" was whether the relationship between the Met and Neil Wallis deterred the police from investigating things properly in the first place. "I have absolutely no reason to think … that was the case, but that's why we need to establish these inquiries."
He denied that he had exercised poor judgement both in previously claiming that the allegations that surfaced in the Guardian and the New York Times in 2009 were "codswallop" and a "political put-up job" by the Labour party, and for his recent defence of Rupert Murdoch after it first emerged that the phone of murder victim Millie Dowler's phone was hacked.
The London mayor reiterated that the answer he gave to the London assembly back in 2009, was based on "what I knew then".
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