A cop-out from Blair.

Byline: Kevin MAGUIRE

BLAIR backing Blair was a blunder the Prime Minister will come to regret when he fails to save his namesake, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

Automatically springing to the copper's defence after the shooting of an innocent man in a bungled anti-terrorism raid smacked of an establishment protecting its own.

Instead of circling the wagons, Tony Blair should have issued marching orders to Ian Blair, who has proved singularly incapable of protecting Londoners during a torrid 17 months.

Terrified accounts from wounded Mohammed Abdul Kayar and his brother Abul Koyair on discovering, on the stairs of their home in the middle of the night, that suspected robbers were armed boys in blue are chilling.

East London is an echo of a greater folly - the Iraq war - that regrettably undermines our security and has badly dented confidence in the government and forces of law and order.

On both occasions there were false reports of weapons of mass destruction based on serious intelligence failures.

The armed raids harmed innocents in Forest Gate and Baghdad, alienating entire communities. And when no chemical or biological bombs were discovered in either, the authorities continued to justify the unjustifiable.

Alas, history does indeed seem to repeat itself, with No 10 chronically unable to learn hard lessons.

Worried MPs fear the security services are in danger of shooting themselves in the foot as well as a man in the shoulder.

Spooks and police officers seeing shadows where they don't exist risk repeating the fatal mistakes of last July in missing real terrorists. Forest Gate was a close re-run of the Stockwell Tube disaster, when Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent Catholic from Brazil, was killed in mistake for an Islamist suicide bomber.

The consequence of such errors is the alienation of communities in the front line of the fight against terrorism.

Downing Street has devised a World Cup strategy to get over a rocky period that left the government reeling over Deputy PM John Prescott's sordid affair and the release of foreign murderers who should have been deported.

The idea was to batten down the hatches, say nothing, do less and hope when the public stops watching football it will forget what went before.

Fat chance of that when the hapless figure of Ian Blair remains at the helm of a force clearly lacking leadership.

There are two Blairs and clearly one or both need to go to restore confidence.

By failing to demonstrate decisive leadership, MPs believe the PM has once again undermined his own position.