41 Facts About Stephen House

Sir Stephen House was born on 1957 and is a Scottish police officer who served as Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in 2022.

Stephen House was born in Glasgow in 1957 and attended the independent Kelvinside Academy.

Stephen House has a younger brother, Jon, who was a senior police officer and was later chief executive of Cardiff Council.

Stephen House returned to Scotland in 1976, to study History and English Literature at the University of Aberdeen.

Stephen House cites his experiences of the police in Aberdeen during his time as a student there, as well as a desire for a role in a disciplined, hierarchical environment, and a view of the police as "a sort of secret, closed-off society", as part of his initial motivation for becoming a police officer.

Stephen House later described himself as not "particularly good" and "a bit too judgmental" as an officer on the beat, and said he lacked maturity and empathy in his early career.

Stephen House transferred in 1988 to Northamptonshire Police, where he was promoted to Sergeant, then progressed to Chief Inspector before moving in 1994 to West Yorkshire Police where he worked as a Superintendent.

Stephen House became Assistant Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police in 1998.

Stephen House joined the Metropolitan Police in December 2001, as a Deputy Assistant Commissioner working in Policy Reviews and Standards.

Stephen House was appointed as Chief constable of Strathclyde Police in 2007 and joined the force formally in November that year, succeeding Willie Rae, the retiring Chief Constable.

In 2011, while in post at Strathclyde, and after being contacted by Home Office officials, House applied to become the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis following the resignation of Paul Stephenson.

Stephen House acknowledged that he was disappointed at being unsuccessful in his application.

Stephen House was quoted as saying "You don't put yourself forward for a job like that lightly, and unfortunately you do it in the full glare of publicity, so it was a pretty difficult situation".

Stephen House was appointed Chief Constable of Police Scotland in September 2012 and took up the position when the new force, which replaced Scotland's eight regional forces, was formally established in April 2013.

Stephen House had previously called for the creation of such a national force.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said Stephen House would be "outstanding" in the position and said he had an "impressive track record of leadership, partnership working and delivery".

In November 2013, Stephen House took up the role of Patron of the national police charity the Police Roll of Honour Trust, alongside Bernard Hogan-Howe and Hugh Orde.

In 2014 Stephen House authorised the deployment of armed police in Scotland.

Stephen House cited the 1996 Dunblane massacre as a reason for the policy.

Stephen House's tenure saw an investigation into Police Scotland officers over the death of Sheku Bayoh after being restrained in May 2015.

Stephen House said in 2013 that he would not seek another police position after the end of his Police Scotland contract in 2016.

Stephen House had previously resisted calls to resign and received the backing of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

In February 2018 Stephen House was re-appointed as an Assistant Commissioner.

In July 2020, in an appearance before the London Assembly's police and crime committee, Stephen House defended the police officers who stopped, searched and handcuffed the athlete Bianca Williams earlier that month and the officers who fired a stun gun at an elderly man in his own home the previous month.

Stephen House said the officers involved had been treated unfairly and that widely-shared videos of each event failed to present a "full picture".

In February 2021, Stephen House said the Metropolitan Police would continue to disproportionately stop and search black people and that the public ought not to be concerned about this behaviour.

Stephen House said stop and search was concentrated in areas believed to suffer from "real problems with violence" and that ceasing to disproportionately target black people would require police officers to stop and search elderly people.

In March 2021, after submitting written evidence to an Investigatory Powers Tribunal complaint relating to the activities of the undercover police officer Mark Kennedy, Stephen House said he was too busy to be cross-examined on his evidence.

In July 2021, Stephen House expressed scepticism over the proposal, supported by the government and pledged in Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's manifesto, that the Metropolitan Police record gender-based hate crimes.

Stephen House was identified by LBC and Sky News as a potential successor to Dick.

In March 2022, a group of prominent black people wrote to Stephen House to call for immediate action to be taken against Metropolitan Police officers who strip-searched a child at her school.

The force issued a statement declaring that Stephen House would stand by his own earlier statement, in which he described the officers' behaviour as lawful and justified.

In May 2022, Nazir Afzal, the former chief prosecutor for north-west England, criticised Stephen House's handling of the Partygate scandal relating to breaches of COVID-19 restrictions by government figures, describing the approach as lacking transparency.

In September 2022, Stephen House left the Metropolitan Police in order to lead a review of operational productivity in policing, which was overseen by the National Police Chiefs' Council.

Stephen House denied the allegations and said he welcomed the IOPC's investigation.

In March 2024, the IOPC concluded its investigation, which it said had found no indication Stephen House had breached behavioural standards.

Stephen House has been married since 1987, and has three children, a boy and two girls.

Stephen House has few interests outside of his family and his job, although he enjoys hill walking and science fiction.

Stephen House was known to turn up unannounced at police stations on a motorcycle when he was Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police.

Stephen House was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in 2005 for distinguished service.

Stephen House was knighted in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to law and order.