The Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police has acknowledged his "enormous sense of shame" in the wake of Sir William Macpherson's damning indictment of his force's investigation into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence.
In a report heralding the most sweeping changes to British policing for 30 years, Sir William concludes the investigation "was marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership by senior officers".
His report also recommends that a change in the law be made to allow trial after acquittal if the Appeal Court accepted that new evidence demanded such action. At present the rule of "double jeopardy" means that the same people cannot be tried twice for the same offence.
In the House of Commons the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, echoed the "sense of shame that the criminal justice system, and the Metropolitan Police in particular, failed the Lawrence family so badly". And in a rallying cry, he said he wanted the report "to serve as a watershed in our attitudes to racism" and as "a catalyst for permanent and irrevocable change" across British society.
Mr Straw confirmed that he had asked Sir Paul - who has accepted the report's criticisms and its new definition of institutional racism - to remain in his post until his planned retirement next January and to lead his force in delivering "the programme of work now required". But Mr Michael Mansfield QC, who acted for the Lawrence family at the inquiry, said it was difficult to see how Sir Paul could be the agent of change when he had resisted the two key findings - that the investigation had been incompetently handled and that it had been affected by institutional racism.
At the same time Mr Mansfield, speaking as a lawyer, warned the government against any move to scrap the "double jeopardy" rule. Speaking on Channel 4 News, Mr Mansfield said this recommendation could lead to further abuses and miscarriages of justice: "There should be finality."
On the same programme, Sir Paul insisted: "I have never given up hope of putting the brutal racist thugs who killed Stephen Lawrence behind bars after due process of law." Saying that he wanted the killers "to feel hunted", he vowed: "We will do everything we can to bring them to justice for some issue connected to this brutal racist murder."
Mrs Doreen Lawrence stopped short of calling for Sir Paul's resignation. "If he feels his conscience allows him to stay, that is up to him," she said. "It is for him to examine his own self and see whether he will have the support of the community."
Speaking before yesterday's publication, the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, told MPs the report represented "a very important moment in the life of our country". Britain, he said, had to confront the fact "that racism still exists" in society, adding: "We should find within ourselves the will to overcome it." He later echoed Mr Straw's insistence that the issues raised by the report concerned attitudes to be found, not just in the police, but in all walks of life.
Mr Straw will publish a detailed "action plan" for reform before a full Commons debate on the report. But yesterday he announced an immediate inspection of the Metropolitan Police by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary; a "thorough scrutiny" of unsolved murders; a new police discipline regime; and the extension of the Race Relations Act to cover the police and all sections of the public services.
While private companies and organisations had long been subject to this legislation, Mr Straw said, "government itself has so far failed to keep its own house in order".