Home Office risks backlash over pick for top police job Tom Winsor will appear before the Commons home affairs committee on Tuesday. The Home Office has named the former rail regulator Tom Winsor as its preferred candidate to be chief inspector of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, a move that will infuriate police federations. Winsor, a lawyer, is the author of a report recommending sweeping changes to police pay and conditions that has sparked widespread protests from rank-and-file officers, including a demonstration by 30,000 in London last month. He will appear before the Commons home affairs committee on Tuesday to be questioned as the government's preferred candidate for the £200,000-a-year job as Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary. The appointment then goes to David Cameron and the Queen for approval. Paul McKeever, chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents officers, said there would be "135,000 raised eyebrows around the country." What is important in the role of [Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary] is to have a deep and profound understanding of policing, so you can advise the home secretary. Tom Winsor himself had to have an adviser on policing for his review," said McKeever. I am a little puzzled. This government has got things very badly wrong already. We are going to have to work with Tom Winsor. We hope his experience of policing serves him well. HMIC assesses the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces in England and Wales. Its inspectors are appointed by the crown and are independent of the government and police services. It has powers to seek information from police forces and to access their premises. A Home Office spokesman said: "Tom Winsor has been named as the preferred candidate for the role of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary. He will appear before the home affairs select committee before the appointment goes to the prime minister and the Queen for approval. The home secretary, Theresa May, asked Winsor, a partner in the law firm White and Case, to carry out the first fundamental review of police pay and conditions for more than 30 years. Winsor's report recommended that chief constables be given the power to make compulsory redundancies, that greater rewards for frontline police officers be matched with pay and pension cuts, and that officers face annual fitness tests. It also included plans to introduce direct entry recruitment into the higher ranks, breaking a decades-old tradition that all officers must start life as a beat constable. The home secretary, Theresa May, said she was looking for an inspirational leader when she advertised the post. Sir Denis O'Connor, a former Metropolitan police commissioner and Surrey chief constable, steps down next month. Other applicants included Sara Thornton, chief constable of Thames Valley, and Chris Sims, chief constable of the West Midlands. Winsor's appearance before the Commons home affairs committee next week does not amount to a confirmatory hearing. The MPs do not have the power to ratify or veto his appointment, but nonetheless it will prove a test before a committee with whom he has not had a happy relationship. A recent report by the MPs questioned the methodology involved in his review. May's decision to appoint Winsor, who will be the first civilian to hold the post since the inspectorate was set up in 1856, represents a clear sign of her political determination to press ahead with her controversial police reform programme. Winsor will be in a key position to ensure that his reforms are implemented. The announcement was greeted with disbelief and anger by some police officers according to their response on Twitter: "The man who needed a police advisor for his 2 'independent' reports will be CHMIC! You really couldn't make it up!" said the Kent police federation. "Could the appointment of Winsor as HMIC be any more provocative and antagonistic to an already beleaguered and wrongly berated organisation?" said David Hasney, a retired North Yorkshire police officer. The Police Federation's inspectors' central committee tweeted: "This simply beggars belief." Others questioned whether the home secretary was taking revenge for her treatment at the Federation annual conference last month where she was jeered, booed and ridiculed. John Apter, of the Police Federation's Hampshire branch, said: "The home secretary will have her own reasons for choosing Mr Winsor over other credible candidates. At this time I am struggling to understand what they might be. But the former Labour home secretary Jacqui Smith said it was not necessarily a bad thing to have a non-police officer in the job. "HMIC should represent public interest in an effective police force, not the profession," she said. I don't think this is clear cut and there are good arguments for external scrutiny. Winsor declined to comment when contacted by the Guardian. His colleague, Oliver Brettle, an executive partner at White & Case, said: "This is an excellent achievement for Tom and a testament to the work he has undertaken over the last 18 months in conducting the independent review of police pay and conditions. We know Tom is passionate about taking on this important role and, in the event of his appointment, would fully understand him wantint to pusure this opportunity outside the firm. Winsor was the rail regulator from 1999 to 2004 before joining the law firm.