Met 'asked Cameron where MP was'

Mr Quick said he remained "objective" despite his row with the Tories

The police officer who led the arrest of MP Damian Green telephoned David Cameron to establish his whereabouts half an hour earlier, he has revealed.

Bob Quick informed the Tory leader that the MP's Commons office was to be searched and he wanted to speak to him, he told the home affairs committee.

But did not disclose that he intended to arrest Mr Green, a decision which had been "deliberate", he added.

The Ashford MP was held for nine hours as part of a Home Office leaks inquiry.

Mr Green, the shadow immigration minister, was arrested in Kent at 1337 GMT on 27 November and his Commons office was searched - without a warrant - just after 1400 GMT.

'Soften the impact'

Assistant Commissioner Quick revealed that the decision to investigate Mr Green had been taken on 20 November - a day after the arrest of civil servant Chris Galley in relation to the leak inquiry.

We were not able to trace Mr Green so we sought Mr Cameron's help Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick

Mr Quick said the Met had decided to proceed with caution and that part of the problem in tracing Mr Green was that officers had dispensed with their usual approach of an early morning arrest.

Mr Quick told the committee: "Because we had taken a number of decisions to soften the impact of our operational action and not conduct our usual early-morning arrest operation - that would normally be customary practice - we were not able to trace Mr Green so we sought Mr Cameron's help."

He said his deputy had informed Mr Cameron of the arrest about an hour after it happened.

The inquiry into Mr Green's alleged involvement in a series of leaks from the Home Office led to a row between the Met and the Conservatives.

'Objective'

In December, Mr Quick was forced to apologise after claiming that the Conservatives were trying to "mobilise" support in the press to potentially impede the inquiry.

This followed a newspaper story about the assistant commissioner's business affairs, which he said put his family at risk - a story which the Conservatives said they had nothing to do with.

Despite the row, Mr Quick denied claims that he could no longer be unbiased about the case, telling MPs that he had remained "objective" throughout the investigation.

Mr Green was arrested and questioned for nine hours in November in connection with a inquiry into alleged systematic leaking by a civil servant at the Home Office.

The MP, who has not been charged, denies any wrongdoing, saying he received and published material that was in the public interest but this did not endanger national security.

Parliamentary meeting

Mr Quick said his officers had met parliamentary security staff on 26 November who decided, after taking legal advice, that they had "no concerns" about them searching Mr Green's office without a warrant.

He said a warrant would only be needed where consent was refused.

This decision caused a furore among MPs and led the Speaker to tighten up the rules for police access to MPs' offices and correspondence.

Appearing before the same committee last month, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith stressed that she had not known about the arrest in advance.

Mr Quick said evidence continued to be passed to the Crown Prosecution Service about the case but would not comment on what stage the inquiry had reached.

Asked if he would do things differently in hindsight, he said under the law his options "were limited".