Britain's most senior police officer, already under pressure over the mistaken shooting of a suspected suicide bomber, was reprimanded today for secretly recording a phone call with the government's top legal adviser.
Sir Ian Blair, London's police commissioner, also recorded calls with members of a commission investigating the shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, his office said.
The chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), which oversees the London police and can discipline their senior officers, told Blair his actions were "wholly unacceptable".
News of the recordings, the latest in a series of gaffes by Blair, have prompted calls for him to step down as head of London's 30,000-strong police force.
A police spokesman said that last September Blair had secretly taped a call from Attorney General Peter Goldsmith which media reports said had centred on the admissibility of telephone wire tap evidence in British courts.
Goldsmith said he had spoken to Blair today and received an explanation and apology. "As far as the Attorney is concerned, the matter is closed," his spokeswoman said.
A statement released by Blair's office said: "He (Blair) thought that they would be discussing a complex issue and, as he was without a note taker, it would be helpful to have a record of the conversation."
The police said Blair had also taped three calls with members of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), a government-funded watchdog investigating Blair's conduct after the shooting of de Menezes last July.