Britain's most senior policeman may face a vote of no confidence as calls mounted for him to resign today.
An emergency meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority, the force's watchdog, has been called and is expected to take place on Monday.
There was anger amongst the committee after the MPA chairman Len Duvall issued a statement last night stating that Sir Ian had the "full support" of the body without consulting members.
At least four members of the group have publicly declared Sir Ian should resign and as many as 10 of the 23 members are said to be lining up to vote against him or abstain.
On Wednesday Sir Ian will face questions from the full London Assembly at City Hall.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is also expected to publish its much-anticipated report into what happened on July 22, the day Mr de Menezes was shot dead.
It has been withheld pending the outcome of court proceedings. It will be critical of Sir Ian for his attempts to keep independent investigators away from Stockwell tube station in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
Former senior Met policeman Brian Paddick has said that Sir Ian should await the results of the IPCC report before making a decision.
"There is still a lot of evidence to come out," he said.
Any decision on the Commissioner's future lies with Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who today publicly defended Sir Ian, along with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
"I don't think he should resign" she said. "I have confidence in Sir Ian Blair."
Yesterday Sir Ian, who was at the Old Bailey to hear a jury convict his force on health and safety charges, expressed his "deep regret" but said the case showed no evidence of systematic failure by the force.
The Met was fined £175,000 and ordered to pay £385,000 costs after being convicted of exposing the public to risk under health and safety legislation.
After the verdict, the family and friends of Mr de Menezes also called for officers to resign.
His mother Maria said : "Sir Ian should think about what his men have done to my son and consider resigning."
Mr de Menezes, 27, an electrician, was shot by firearms officers at Stockwell Underground station.
The court heard how there were a "catastrophic" series of blunders which led to surveillance and firearms teams believing they were on the trail of a suicide bomber.
The shooting on 22 July 2005 took place a day after four suicide bombers tried to attack London and went on the run when their devices failed.
Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, has leapt to the defence of Sir Ian, agreeing with the Commissioner's own judgement that there were no grounds for resignation because the judge had accepted the failings were a one off.
The commissioner is an "incredibly talented officer" and has the full support of the force, Mr Livingstone said.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme he criticised as "disastrous" the findings of the court, claiming it could make stopping suicide bombers more difficult.
"At the end of the day, mistakes are always going to happen in wars or situations like this. The best you can do is try and make the potential for risk the minimum possible but there will be mistakes.
"Every time Ian Blair has appeared [he has said] we're absolutely terribly sorry, we apologise for what happened. But in this sort of fast-moving situation someone must make the instantaneous decision: is that a terrorist and are they reaching to trigger the bomb?"
In this morning's version of the Metro Newspaper it stated that the Police Fine would go back into Police coffers which if true seems to make the whole thing a bit of a farce if you ask me!!
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