Ian Blair

Ian Warwick Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton, QPMis a British retired policeman who held the position of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2005 to 2008.

He joined the Metropolitan Police in 1974 under a graduate scheme, and served 10 years in London. As deputy chief constable of Thames Valley Police, he handled the protests over the construction of the Newbury bypass, and then became chief constable of Surrey Police, before being appointed deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and then commissioner in January 2005. His term of office saw the mistaken shooting of an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes, which resulted in contradictory police reports, and his comments on race caused some controversy among ethnic-minority police officers.

In October 2008 he announced that he would step down from the post in December after disagreements with Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London. Blair was appointed as a crossbench life peer in July 2010.