Dame Cressida Dick is leaving her role as head of the Met Police, the Mayor of London has confirmed.
Sadiq Khan had put the Metropolitan Commissioner "on notice" last week after the police watchdog published messages sent by officers that used sexist, racist and homophobic language.
But he said he was "not satisfied" with the Commissioner's response and in a statement on Thursday evening said: "On being informed of this, Dame Cressida Dick has said she will be standing aside.
"It's clear that the only way to start to deliver the scale of the change required is to have new leadership right at the top of the Metropolitan Police."
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Image:Sadiq Khan had warned he was ready to "take action", if Cressida Dick did not answer his questions
Dame Cressida said it was "with great sadness" she was stepping down.
"It is clear that the mayor no longer has sufficient confidence in my leadership to continue.
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"He has left me no choice but to step aside as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service."
She added: "The murder of Sarah Everard and many other awful cases recently have, I know, damaged confidence in this fantastic police service."
It has been agreed that she will continue to serve for a short period to enable an orderly handover.
'Absolutely no intention of going'
Mr Khan said he would begin working with the Home Secretary Priti Patel on the appointment of a new Commissioner so that "we can move quickly to restore trust in the capital's police service while keeping London safe".
Her resignation comes following a series of scandals including the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens, and the exchange of racist, misogynist and homophobic messages by officers at Charing Cross Police Station.
Earlier on Thursday, when asked by the BBC if she should step down she said: "I have absolutely no intention of going and I believe that I am and have been, actually for the last five years, leading a real transformation in the Met.
Prince Charles has tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time and Palace sources have confirmed the Prince of Wales recently met with the Queen.
The Prince of Wales is now self-isolating following the test result, which came just minutes before he was due to arrive in Winchester on a visit to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.
Sky News understands Her Majesty is not showing any coronavirus symptoms and the situation will continue to be monitored.
This morning The Prince of Wales has tested positive for COVID-19 and is now self-isolating.
HRH is deeply disappointed not to be able to attend today's events in Winchester and will look to reschedule his visit as soon as possible.
— The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) February 10, 2022
Aides, who were only informed moments earlier, said the prince was found to be positive during a routine test - which suggested he was not experiencing strong symptoms - but they declined to go into more detail about his condition.
Both he and the Duchess of Cornwall have been taking regular tests before engagements, and Camilla, who visited a school in Bath on Tuesday and has separate royal duties from the prince, had a negative test on Thursday.
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In a tweet, Clarence House said: "This morning The Prince of Wales has tested positive for COVID-19 and is now self-isolating.
"HRH is deeply disappointed not to be able to attend today's events in Winchester and will look to reschedule his visit as soon as possible."
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Clarence House confirmed the prince is triple vaccinated but did not confirm whether he had been in physical contact with the Queen recently.
Image:Chancellor Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy met Charles at last night's reception at the British Museum
The announcement comes after Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall attended a reception at the British Museum last night.
The event, attended by scores of people, was held to celebrate the work of the British Asian Trust (BAT), which the prince founded in 2007 to work to reduce poverty in south Asia.
Charles was in close contact with high-profile guests including Home Secretary Priti Patel, former Liverpool footballer Ian Rush and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who was there with his wife Akshata Murthy.
Image:The Duchess of Cornwall accompanied the Prince of Wales to the British Asian Trust event
Using his pet name for Camilla, which means "darling" in Urdu, he said in a speech: "I cannot quite believe it is almost two years to the day that both my Mehabooba and myself were able to be with all of you to celebrate the work of the British Asian Trust.
"Since then, across the globe, there has been terrible loss of life from this dreadful pandemic and we have especially seen the devastating impact throughout south Asia."
Charles praised the "truly remarkable achievement" of the BAT, which raised £20m in four fundraising campaigns during the pandemic.
Before his speech, Charles and Camilla greeted supporters and ambassadors of BAT in the museum's Egyptian Gallery.
Image:The Prince of Wales chatted with Home Secretary Priti Patel last night
They first spoke with Mr Sunak and Ms Patel before the four posed for photos.
Greeting Rush, the prince said: "Didn't you used to play?" The Welsh sportsman laughed and replied: "Yes."
Charles then asked how Liverpool were doing and whether the Welsh national team would qualify for this year's World Cup in Qatar.
"They have a chance," Rush said.
Image:Former Liverpool footballer Ian Rush shakes hands with Charles at the event
Disappointed crowds
More than 1,000 people were gathered behind barriers in Winchester waiting to see the prince on Thursday.
There were groans of disappointment from the crowd after it was announced he would no longer be coming.
The Queen's representative in Hampshire, the Lord Lieutenant Nigel Atkinson, read out a message from the prince.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am so sorry that I cannot be with you today. I am desperately disappointed as I was so looking forward to marking this historic occasion with you," it said.
"I hope very much that I will be able to visit at a future time but for today please accept my most heartfelt apologies and my very best wishes as you mark this memorable occasion for Winchester."
Charles was due to unveil a new statue of Licoricia of Winchester, a prominent Jewish moneylender who was murdered in 1277 during a period of antisemitism in the reign of Edward I that culminated in the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290.
Earlier this week the Queen, 95, marked her Platinum Jubilee by expressing her "sincere wish" that the duchess would be Queen Camilla at Charles's side when he is one day king.
On a tour of a community kitchen in Notting Hill, west London, earlier on Thursday, Camilla was asked by a visitor how she felt about the title. "I feel very honoured - very honoured and very touched," she said.
When the prince first contracted COVID, he suffered a mild infection and described how he lost his sense of taste and smell.
Boris Johnson is expected to be among 50 people in Downing Street who will be questioned by police over allegations of participating in parties while coronavirus restrictions were in place.
Detectives will begin sending those in No 10 formal questionnaires, which will ask them to account for their involvement in events and provide an explanation.
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The questionnaires have formal legal status and those receiving them will be required to answer truthfully. Detectives, who are assessing 300 images and 500 documents provided by the Cabinet Office, will then decide whether to issue a fixed penalty notice.
A Labour MP asks Boris Johnson about the photograph during prime minister’s questions
The police are questioning people in relation to eight events. They include a “bring your own booze” garden party in Downing Street on May 20, 2020, and a celebration held
Boris Johnson on Wednesday announced plans to end the legal requirement to self-isolate after a positive Covid-19 test in a move aimed at scrapping the last remaining virus restrictions in England.
The UK prime minister, attempting to raise Conservative morale after weeks of Tory divisions, won cheers from his MPs as he suggested the worst of the Covid crisis was coming to an end.
“It is my expectation that we’ll be able to end the last domestic restrictions, including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive, a full month early,” Johnson said at prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons.
Johnson said he expected to set out a “living with Covid” plan when MPs return from a break on February 21. The remaining legal curbs had not been due to expire until March 24.
Wednesday’s announcement came as new data from the Office for National Statistics showed that Covid infection rates were rising across the UK.
Some 3.3mn people were infected with the virus in the week ending February 5, up from nearly 3.1mn infections the week before. In England, one in 19 people had coronavirus in the latest week, compared with one in 20 a week earlier.
This month, Denmark became the first European country to drop all Covid restrictions, including the legal requirement to self-isolate, despite record infection rates due to the Omicron coronavirus variant. However, the Danish government is still advising people who test positive after showing symptoms to self-isolate for at least four days.
In South Africa, where Omicron first emerged, people without symptoms have not had to self-isolate after testing positive since early February.
The prime minister’s spokesperson stressed on Wednesday that the change was not a recommendation that people should go to work if they have coronavirus, adding that “guidance” on appropriate behaviour would remain in place.
“Obviously in the same way that someone with flu, we wouldn’t recommend they go to work, we would never recommend anyone goes to work when they have an infectious disease.”
Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, said the planned rule change in England was “pragmatic” as self-isolation rules were “essentially self-policed”.
“No longer mandating isolation periods isn’t going to make a big difference,” said Spector. But he stressed the need to continue with “strong public health messaging”, adding that the government “must not pretend it’s over”.
However, Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers urged caution. “The government is best placed to determine the evidence around Covid-19 restrictions but any steps to de-escalate our precautionary approach — including ending requirements for self-isolation for positive tests — must be proportionate to the risks,” he said.
The move was met with scepticism from some workers’ unions. General secretary of the TUC Frances O’Grady, has urged employers to “carry out proper risk assessments” to maintain safety in the workplace and find solutions to the “broken sick pay system”.
“It beggars belief that millions still don’t have access to decent sick pay,” she said. “This is leaving the country vulnerable to new variants and pandemics.”
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has been holding talks with business groups and unions about what kind of workplace guidance would help employers navigate a “post-Covid” world — where the pandemic is all but over but Covid-19 has not disappeared.
Employers and unions want the government to maintain access to free lateral flow tests, despite ministers’ desire to start charging for them later this year. They also expect the government to produce advice on best practice, such as good ventilation in buildings and not forcing employees who are sick with mild Covid into work, if they can work from home.
One union official said any new advice should be broad in scope to prevent any confusion with “consistent guidance” for all workplaces — in contrast to the sector-by-sector approach at the start of the health crisis.
Additional reporting by George Parker and Sebastian Payne in London
Boris Johnson has announced plans to end the legal requirement to self-isolate after a positive Covid-19 test as he moves to scrap the last remaining coronavirus restrictions in England.
The UK prime minister, attempting to raise Conservative morale after weeks of Tory divisions, won cheers from his MPs as he suggested the worst of the Covid crisis was coming to an end.
“It is my expectation that we’ll be able to end the last domestic restrictions, including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive, a full month early,” Johnson said at prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons.
The prime minister said he expected to set out a “living with Covid” plan when MPs returned from a break on February 21. The remaining legal curbs were not due to expire until March 24.
Johnson set out his thinking last month when he said: “There will soon come a time when we can remove the legal requirement to self-isolate altogether — just as we don’t place legal obligations on people to isolate if they have flu.
“As Covid becomes endemic we will need to replace legal requirements with advice and guidance urging people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others.”
Wednesday’s announcement came as new data from the Office for National Statistics showed that Covid infection rates were rising across the UK. Some 3.3mn people were infected with the virus in the week ending February 5, up from nearly 3.1mn infections the week before. In England, one in 19 people had coronavirus in the latest week, compared with one in 20 a week earlier.
This month, Denmark became the first European country to drop all Covid restrictions, including the legal requirement to self-isolate, despite record infection rates due to the Omicron coronavirus variant.
However, the Danish government still advises people who test positive after showing symptoms to self-isolate for at least four days.
In South Africa, where Omicron first emerged, people without symptoms have not had to self-isolate after testing positive since early February.
The prime minister’s spokesman stressed on Wednesday that the change was not a recommendation that people should go to work if they have coronavirus, adding that “guidance” on appropriate behaviour would remain in place.
“What we would simply be doing is removing the domestic regulations which relate to isolation,” he said. “But obviously in the same way that someone with flu, we wouldn’t recommend they go to work, we would never recommend anyone goes to work when they have an infectious disease.”
He added: “We’ve talked about how we will need to manage living with coronavirus as we emerge from this pandemic. We are entering into that phase of endemicity . . . and it’s only right that we adjust accordingly.”
Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, said the planned rule change in England was “pragmatic” as self-isolation rules were “essentially self-policed”.
“No longer mandating isolation periods isn’t going to make a big difference,” said Spector. “The people who are currently respecting the rules will probably carry on respecting those rules even if they’re not legally enforced.”
But he stressed the need to continue with “strong public health messaging”, adding that the government “must not pretend it’s over”.
However, Professor Christina Pagel, a member of the Independent Sage group of science advisers, called the move “depressing”, adding that it would make going to work or going out in public “riskier” and would adversely affect people in jobs “where it’s not easy to work from home and there is pressure to go in”.
“The implication is that [the government] expects everyone to get infected, more than once, for a disease considerably more infectious than flu and considerably more dangerous than a cold,” she added.
The prime minister has been warned by MPs that his plan to clear the NHS backlog is “not ambitious enough” after conceding that waiting lists would rise for another two years.
His health secretary, Sajid Javid, yesterday promised “strong action to reduce waiting times” with a plan that will allow the NHS to pay for taxis and hotels to send thousands of patients around the country for quicker treatment.
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Treasury attempts to push through more ambitious targets failed as the NHS was allowed to retain a March 2025 deadline for dealing with the 300,000 patients waiting more than a year for treatment. The department had wanted the target to be met in 2024.
Conservative MPs warned Boris Johnson that voters would not tolerate paying
Sir Keir Starmer was mobbed by protesters shouting "Jimmy Savile" and accusing him of "protecting paedophiles" - but were they influenced by Boris Johnson's remarks?
The Labour leader and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy were walking past New Scotland Yard near parliament on Monday evening when a group surrounded the two politicians before officers intervened, with footage showing Sir Keir being bundled into a police car.
The protesters could be heard shouting "Jimmy Savile" and accusing the leader of "protecting paedophiles" as they surrounded Sir Keir, while officers tried to fend them off.
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Moment Labour leader bundled into police car
As a result, Boris Johnson has faced renewed calls, including from his own MPs, to apologise after accusing Sir Keir last week of failing to prosecute the notorious sex offender while he was head of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Following the incident, Downing Street made it clear the PM will not apologise, with a spokesman saying his words last week were "capable of being misconstrued".
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He added: "The prime minister clarified his remarks last week to make clear he was not suggesting Keir Starmer was individually responsible for the Savile decision. I think the prime minister was making a political point about taking responsibility for organisations as a whole."
Earlier on Tuesday the Speaker warned in the Commons that "our words have consequences".
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Was the protest because of the PM's remarks?
There does not appear to be any prior mention of protesters gathering in Westminster on Monday because of the Savile accusations.
A planned protest at Downing Street and Parliament Square for Monday was advertised online with a poster, which does not mention Sir Keir in the context of Savile.
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'I wouldn't have said it': Sunak on PM's Savile comment
It says the rally will "support convoys and actions all over the UK and world", protect against vaccines, COVID regulations and police bill "attacks on rights".
The poster also says the group wants to "take down all power - government and fake opposition".
These types of demonstrations have become fairly regular over the past two years and have also involved protesters turning up at MPs' homes and offices, as well confronting workers at vaccine centres.
Image:An online poster advertised the day of the protest in Parliament Square
What were the protesters actually saying to Sir Keir?
In videos of Sir Keir being mobbed, protesters can be mainly heard shouting "fake opposition", "traitor", "disgrace" and asking him "why aren't you opposing the government? It's your job".
They also said, "why aren't you standing up for the working-class man?" and mentioned Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
In the background there are shouts of "Jimmy Savile" and some accusing the leader of "protecting paedophiles".
Anti-vaccine campaigner Piers Corbyn at protest
Two website addresses on the poster are ones set up by Piers Corbyn, the brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has been campaigning against vaccines, masks and lockdowns during the pandemic.
He said there were several other groups there, individuals who decided to join, and he was welcoming people to the protest.
Image:Piers Corbyn (right) is often seen at anti-vaccination demonstrations, seen here on 2 February
Mr Corbyn told Sky News he was about 50 yards away from Sir Keir when he heard the shouting and went over just as the Labour leader was bundled into a police car.
He added: "Some of the protesters just saw Keir Starmer walking past and started shouting at him, it was mostly about how he's the worst opposition leader we've ever had.
"They did say things about Jimmy Savile, but it was nothing to do with Boris's announcement, that was just a cheap way of dodging the bullet around the parties issue.
"We couldn't care less about the parties, we want more."
Image:Piers Corbyn is seen in the crowd soon after Keir Starmer is bundled into a police car. Pic: Resistance GB/YouTube
Canadian convoys, anti-vax, anti-animal cruelty and anti-establishment
While about 20 people were in the mob surrounding Sir Keir, there were many more protesting throughout the day - on a variety of issues.
Earlier in the afternoon, a Sky News cameraman heard the protesters outside parliament shouting in support of the lorry convoy that has brought the Canadian capital of Ottawa to a halt.
Image:Lorry drivers and their supporters continue to blockade Ottawa over a vaccine mandate
A state of emergency has been declared in Ottawa after more than two weeks of the so-called "Freedom Convoy" protests against COVID-19 vaccine requirements for lorry drivers to re-enter the country from the US.
Outside parliament at about 6pm, a Sky News reporter walked through around 15 protesters holding placards against cruelty to beagles and against the COVID vaccine.
Who are the group that mobbed Sir Keir?
The group that posted the video of protesters crowding Sir Keir calls itself "Resistance GB" and is part of a wider anti-establishment/anti-vaccine/anti-government movement.
While Resistance GB posted the video, it is likely there were members of other loosely organised groups present as there had been anti-lockdown protests earlier on which attract similar groups.
It is believed one of the people running Resistance GB is a former Conservative councillor.
Two people were arrested, but it is not known if they were part of Resistance GB.
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