IS IT TIME to draw a line under the Carmel Napier/Ian Johnston saga?

Since the Argus first revealed that Gwent’s former chief constable was effectively forced out of her job by the police and crime commissioner, the pair have made headline news almost every day.

For journalists like me, such a story is manna from heaven. I described it on BBC Radio Wales last week as “the gift that keeps on giving”.

But at some point Mr Johnston and whoever replaces Mrs Napier as chief constable have to get back to the job of policing Gwent.

Mr Johnston would have to be super-human to remain focused on his job as PCC given the events of the last few weeks.

Last week he was quizzed (far more effectively than I had feared, by the way) by Gwent’s police and crime panel. This week he appeared – along with Mrs Napier – before the home affairs select committee in Westminster. Next week he’ll be giving evidence to the Welsh affairs select committee in Cardiff.

I am in no way trying to elicit sympathy for Mr Johnston. He is responsible for his own actions and, quite rightly as an elected official, is having to justify his decisions to the public.

I am simply pointing out that the longer this story drags on (and admittedly this newspaper is playing a part in that) the less time Mr Johnston has to do the job he was elected to do.

And I cannot let reference to Mr Johnston’s election pass without mentioning the utter hypocrisy displayed by some Gwent Labour MPs on this issue in recent weeks.

They have homed in on the poor turnout for the PCC elections last November and suggested the tiny percentage of the electorate who voted for Mr Johnston means he has no democratic mandate.

What rot. Our democracy is based on the principle that you win if you get more votes than your opponents. Our MPs – many of whom are in office having been voted in by a minority of the electorate – do not say they have not got a mandate.

Indeed, if you apply the argument they are using against the PCC (who, let us not forget, defeated a Labour candidate) then we would have been without a government in this country for many years because no victorious party has commanded a majority of the electorate for decades.

But I digress. The Johnston/Napier battle has been good political theatre. However, it may now be time to face reality.

Mr Johnston is the elected PCC.

He is going nowhere.

Mrs Napier has retired. Many people are uncomfortable about the circumstances in which she went, but there will be no coming back.

Politicians and others will continue to have their say on this issue but nothing will change the positions of Mr Johnston or Mrs Napier.

In my view, MPs should now concentrate on whether the legislation surrounding the role of PCCs – particularly with regard to their apparently unfettered powers to hire and fire chief constables – should be changed.

In the meantime, Mr Johnston has a job to do and a new chief constable to appoint.

Perhaps it is time we all let him get on with it.