Cressida Dick offered a two-year extension as a dead chief of police | Cressida Dick

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The government has offered the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, an extension of her term for two years.

The decision was made by the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, in consultation with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and Downing Street.

Those with knowledge of the process say Dick was granted an extension because those likely to replace her had not yet been seen as suitable for the job.

Dick became commissioner in April 2017 and was the first woman to lead Britain’s largest police force since its establishment in 1829. She had a five-year contract expiring April 2022.

The decision followed talks between Dick and Patel late last month and it is understood that all parties have agreed on terms. The extension must be formally approved by Buckingham Palace as the Met Commissioner is an appointment by royal order.

Dick’s mandated extension will be officially announced next week. The only thing that could stop that is a cabinet reshuffle in which Patel is replaced as interior minister and her replacement rips up the deal. He thinks this is unlikely.

Dick’s period was controversial. It has angered some by expanding on stop-and-go, with community confidence in dropping the Met and the race’s checkered power history under a microscope.

Others believe she escaped having to give a valid explanation for her role in Operation Midland, the Met’s disastrous investigation into a VIP episode of pedophilia that mistakenly suspected high-profile individuals.

Investigators fell for the lies of an imaginary who was later imprisoned. Dick has also come under personal criticism with the official report on the murder of Danielle Morgan, which accused her of obstructing her work, which she denies. She oversaw the fallout after a Met officer kidnapped, raped, and murdered Sarah Everard in south London this year.

Dick is seen as struggling to control violent crime, who took office saying it was her top priority.

Only John Stevens and Bernard Hogan Howe have completed their full five-year term as Commissioner of Meteorology in the twenty-first century. Commissioners Ian Blair and Sir Paul Stephenson resigned mid-term amid controversy.

The Met commissioner is appointed by the Home Secretary, who must heed the views of the Mayor of London, Khan of Labour.

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