Black police lift boycott call after Dizaei 'victory'

Black police officers today lifted their call for ethnic minority recruits to boycott the Met after a dramatic £80,000 deal allowing controversial police chief Ali Dizaei to return to the force.

The Iranian-born superintendent, who was cleared at the Old Bailey of dishonesty charges last month, is to be offered a fast-track command promotion course.

In return, the £52,000-a-year officer, who recently claimed the Met was riddled with the "cancer of racism", is to drop an employment tribunal threat against the force. The move could see him promoted to commander in London or assistant chief constable in a provincial force in a few years.

The extraordinary deal was hammered out in secret by the arbitration service Acas after an intervention by Home Secretary David Blunkett.

A joint statement issued by Scotland Yard today said the investigation of Mr Dizaei, 41, highlighted "areas where his conduct fell far below the standards expected of a police officer " and that he "acknowledges" those lessons.

He will return to work - on secondment to the National Black Police Association - with his "integrity demonstrably intact". Mr Dizaei will receive an £80,000 settlement for the "distress" he suffered.

Today Leroy Logan, head of the Met's Black Police Association, described the agreement as a "victory for justice and for black personnel in the Met".