Ian Blair, English police officer
Ian Warwick Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton, (born 19 March 1953) is a British retired policeman who held the position of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2005 to 2008 and was the highest-ranking officer within the Metropolitan Police Service.
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.
1953Mar, 19
Ian Blair
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Events on 1953
- 28Feb
Francis Crick
James Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature (pub. April 2). - 6Mar
Joseph Stalin
Georgy Malenkov succeeds Joseph Stalin as Premier of the Soviet Union and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. - 8Apr
Jomo Kenyatta
Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by British Kenya's rulers. - 19Aug
1953 Iranian coup d'état
Cold War: The CIA and MI6 help to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. - 30Oct
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document National Security Council Paper No. 162/2, which states that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.