[3][4] 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.

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

[4] In an interview conducted soon after he was sworn in, he argued it was necessary for police officers "to have a strong sense of morality" and said responding to domestic abuse and organised crime would be priorities.

[4] In March 2023, a BBC analysis of Police Scotland documents found that, during House's tenure, the force falsely claimed that thousands of 999 calls had been allocated to officers in order to artificially improve recorded response rates.

[18] In a September 2020 appearance before the committee, House criticised Extinction Rebellion protesters for "going floppy" when arrested, a tactic he described as a "flipping nuisance" and called to be outlawed.

[22] In June 2021, House joined with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick in rejecting the conclusions of an independent inquiry into the 1987 murder of Daniel Morgan, which found the force to have been institutionally corrupt in concealing or denying failings in its investigations.

[23][24] In July 2021, 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.

[26][27] Patel later ordered a review, to be led by Tom Winsor, to examine whether the Mayor of London's role in hiring and dismissing the Metropolitan Police Commissioner should be reduced.

[29][30] The Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael called for House to be ruled out as a replacement for Dick on the basis of his record with Police Scotland.

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

[33][34] In April 2022, Patel announced House would serve as Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police pending the appointment of a successor to Cressida Dick.

[35] Following Patel's announcement, Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain wrote to Patel arguing that House was unsuitable for the position due to his record with Police Scotland,[35] while Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon wrote to Khan to seek assurances regarding House's stop and search policy at Police Scotland.

[37] In his first appearance before the Home Affairs Select Committee on 20 April, House said "unacceptable behaviour" in the Metropolitan Police, particularly in its Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection unit, was not attributable to "a few bad apples", and called for a change to protocol that would allow officers suspected of misconduct to be dismissed more quickly.

[39][40] In May 2022, Nazir Afzal, the former chief prosecutor for north-west England, criticised House's handling of the Partygate scandal relating to breaches of COVID-19 restrictions by government figures, describing the approach as lacking transparency.

[41] Also in May, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wrote to House to demand he explain why Boris Johnson did not receive a fixed penalty notice (FPN) for attending a party in November 2020, in relation to which other attendees were fined,[42] and said that public trust in the Metropolitan Police had been eroded by a "lack of clarity" in its decision-making in Operation Hillman.

[43] Appearing before the London Assembly's police and crime committee later in May, House said that while Johnson had attended events for which others were fined, there had been insufficient evidence to issue more than one FPN to him.

[46] In June 2022, after the Metropolitan Police was placed in special measures by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr wrote to House to outline "substantial and persistent concerns" regarding the force's performance, including its "inexperienced" workforce, its backlog of online child abuse cases, the stop-and-search of Bianca Williams, the strip-searching of children, the murder of Sarah Everard, and the force's approach to internal corruption.