KHAN AND PATEL GO TO WAR OVER MET SHAMBLES

SHE THINKS HE'S 'ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL'. HE CLAIMS SHE OPPOSED KEY CHANGES

- Ross Lydall, Nicholas Cecil and Anthony France

A WAR of words broke out today between the Government and Sadiq Khan after the Metropolitan Police was placed in special measures.

The police watchdog acted after a series of scandals, including the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer and failures in the investigation into the serial killer Stephen Port, that it said were likely to have a "chilling effect" on public confidence.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary also unearthed "systemic failings" in routine policing, such as the failure to record the reason for a quarter of stop-and-search operations and the failure to log 69,000 crimes a year.

A source close to Home Secretary Priti Patel accused Mr Khan of being "asleep at the wheel".

But the Mayor hit back, saying he had been calling for some time for systemic and cultural changes in the force "in the face of opposition from Priti Patel and Boris Johnson".

The HMI report was said to contain no direct criticism of Mr Khan - who as police and crime commissioner has overseen the Met for the past six years or of the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, which sets the Met's strategy and its £4.6 billion annual budget.

But critics questioned the Mayor's role and that of his deputy mayor for policing, Sophie Linden, who was asked at a public meeting last night how the Met's failings were not her responsibility or that of Mr Khan.