John Yates
Assistant Commissioner, Metropolitan Police
Yates, one of the highest ranking members of London's police force, resigned July 18 in the face of mounting questions regarding his handling of the police's investigation into the phone hacking scandal. Yates quit after learning that he would be suspended pending investigation of his links to former News of the World editor Neil Wallis, who was arrested in July on suspicion of phone hacking. It's alleged that Yates failed to adequately vet Wallis before the Met hired him as a PR consultant and that he helped Wallis' daughter secure a job at Scotland Yard. Yates also twice declined to reopen a phone hacking inquiry, once while Wallis was in the Met's employ in 2009. He later described this decision as "pretty crap." Prior to the controversy, "Yates of the Yard," as he was known to colleagues, was considered a likely candidate for commissioner.