Ex NZ Police Commissioner Mike Bush out of UK Met Police top job race after reaching final five

Former Police Commissioner Mike Bush. Photo / Getty Images

Former New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush is off the shortlist for the most prestigious police job in London.

Bush, Commissioner from 2014 to 2020 and a police officer for more than 40 years, had been tipped as next Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

The Met, as it is known, is headquartered at New Scotland Yard and employs more police officers than the entire New Zealand force.

The Times last month described Bush as a reformist who was "staking his claim on being the fresh broom needed to sort out the beleaguered force".

Subsequent UK media reports highlighted Bush's 1983 drink-driving conviction in New Zealand.

The conviction was widely reported five years ago.

Bush declined to confirm or refute reports he was after the Met Commissioner job, telling Newshub last month to refer queries to the British Home Office.

But in recent days multiple British media outlets have reported Bush was no longer a candidate.

The Guardian said Bush and two other frontrunners had been "eliminated" as contenders.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush had a varied and often dramatic career over four decades in different countries and cities. Photo / Michael Craig

"The rejected senior police leaders were eliminated after a panel read their written applications," The Guardian reported.

The Evening Standard said Bush would have been the first foreign Met Commissioner if he'd made it to the next stage of the recruitment process.

Former UK counter-terrorism chief Sir Mark Rowley and current Met Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave are reportedly the two final contenders.

After Bush stepped down as Commissioner in 2020, he was invited to be on the Covid-19 national response team.