Met commissioner candidate profile: Tim Godwin

The police response to the riots last month may have cost the acting Met commissioner his chance of the top job

Stephen House | Bernard Hogan-Howe | Sir Hugh Orde
Tim Godwin
Tim Godwin, the acting Met police commissioner. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Tim Godwin is in his second spell as acting commissioner of the Metropolitan police, but despite being the incumbent, his chances of getting the job on a full-time basis are ranked as low.

The government, which will make the choice, wants the new commissioner to fit in with their desires for a radical reform of the Met and British policing.

Godwin has been a senior officer at the top of Scotland Yard for a decade, and thus is associated with the way policing has been done.

He was at the helm of the Met when the riots erupted and some senior government figures believe the police's initial response was bungled, claims which Godwin publicly felt he had to rebut.

Godwin is a rarity in the British establishment: someone from a working-class background who has reached the upper echelons.

He left school aged 16 and joined the merchant navy where he achieved the rank of second mate.

In 1981 he joined Sussex police and in 1999 he transferred to the Met, where within two years he had been promoted to its third-highest rank, that of assistant commissioner.

In 2008 he became acting deputy commissioner, and was appointed to the post on a permanent basis in July 2009. Just beforehand, Godwin, who has joked about his girth, lost a considerable amount of weight. All top police officers attract enemies within the service, and Godwin's had always claimed he just didn't "look like commissioner material".

Godwin's first stint as acting commissioner began in late 2010 when Sir Paul Stephenson had to take time off for a serious illness. While in charge Godwin made a big decision that may shape the Met and British policing for years to come.

Godwin decided to order a new criminal inquiry into allegations of illegal phone hacking by the News of the World, handing control of the inquiry to a fresh team. It was a tough decision, inevitably involving pain for the Met, and it has already had consequences for police and the media.

As the spotlight fell on top officers and their ethics, Godwin was able to say he had chosen not to accept hospitality from the News of the World. Yet despite this his bid to be commissioner suffers from his being too much associated with the past.

Godwin is known as an ideas man and insightful about how the wider criminal justice system can support the police. As chair of the London Criminal Justice Board, he championed schemes such as virtual courts and tackling repeat offenders.

This is his 30th year as a police officer and thus if he does not get the job, he could retire on full pension, or even apply for the job as head of the new National Crime Agency.