PUT YOUR TROUSERS ON, HYPHEN-HOWE, YOU WON’T BE MISSED

SO FAREWELL, then, Bernard Hyphen-Howe. The Met commissioner has resigned before he could be pushed. Mother Theresa has withdrawn her love and the new Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wants his own tame police chief.

Bernard turned up on nick ferrari’s LBC radio show in Edif Piaf mode. He regretted rien, although he did claim he hadn’t deliberately set out to alienate the Press. That’s difficult to believe, given the heavy- handed tactics and dawn raids he employed during the deranged witch-hunt against journalists falsely accused of phone-hacking and bribing public officials.

He’d like to be remembered for keeping London safe from terrorism, particularly during the Olympics. But his record is seriously marred not just by the phonehacking fiasco, but also by the hounding of innocent celebrities and other prominent figures caught up in the ‘historic’ sex crimes crusade. And especially by his appalling treatment of 92-year-old war hero Lord Bramall and the late Leon Brittan, a former Home Secretary, which is expected to be heavily criticised in a forthcoming official report.

The use of police bail to keep suspects hanging in limbo for years, and the zealous exercising of search powers to ransack homes, have also been routinely abused on his watch. Bernard’s handling of the 2011 London riots wasn’t exactly exemplary, either, given that officers were ordered initially to stand back and watch the burning and looting.

Within Scotland Yard, morale is said to be at rock bottom and a number of Bernard’s favourites in ‘senior management’ have faced bullying charges or been allowed to retire early to avoid disciplinary action.

Let’s hope Sadiq Khan chooses his successor wisely. The dedicated coppers of the Met — and the people of London — deserve much better than they’ve had from Hyphen-Howe.