Sir Paul Stephenson this afternoon said he regretted the appointment of former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis as a £1,000 PR adviser at the Met.
But Sir Paul insisted he had no idea that Mr Wallis, who was arrested last week, might be linked to the phone hacking scandal. In a defiant appearance before MPs two days after his resignation, Sir Paul said: "I am quite happy to say, knowing what we know now, that I regret that contract [with Wallis] because it's embarrassing.
I was consulted in the procurement process but I didn't hire him. I knew nothing to his detriment." Sir Paul quit on Sunday after it was revealed that he enjoyed a free five-week stay at Champney's health spa worth £12,000. Mr Wallis was the PR for the spa.
Sir Paul said today that he had not known of the link and that he was in pain and in a wheelchair at the time of the stay following an operation to remove a pre-cancerous tumour from his leg.
Sir Paul said he had told his director of public affairs Dick Fedorcio to take on "additional support" because his deputy was off sick, but did not put forward Mr Wallis's name. "When Neil Wallis's name came up I would have no concerns about that," he added.
A Downing Street official told Scotland Yard to keep the Prime Minister in the dark about Mr Wallis, Sir Paul revealed to the committee.
The disclosure caused surprise because David Cameron has since made clear he should have been told earlier that Mr Wallis had been paid £24,000 by the Met for PR advice.
Responding to suggestions that he did not trust the Prime Minister, Sir Paul said he had tried to avoid "compromising" him by revealing operational details about an imminent arrest.
He went on: "I think there is something very relevant here: My understanding is that it was exactly the advice of a senior official in No 10, so we don't compromise the Prime Minister.
"A senior official in No 10 guided us that actually we should not compromise the Prime Minister. And it seems to me to be entirely sensible."
Committee chairman Keith Vaz mocked the appointments of Mr Wallis and former Downing Street spin doctor Andy Coulson, saying they looked like "fashion accessories" and sounded incredulous that Sir Paul never wondered if Mr Wallis had been involved in phone hacking.
"You are a police officer- surely you would have had suspicions?" he said. Committee member Nicola Blackwood suggested Met officers were "blinded by friendship" with Mr Wallis.
The former Met boss also said he regretted the failures of the original investigation and appeared to blame colleague John Yates
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