David Cameron today led a furious outcry at the arrest and detention for nine hours of the Conservative shadow immigration minister Damian Green.

The Tory leader called the police operation "extraordinary and frankly rather worrying", while former shadow home secretary David Davis compared it with the arrest of opposition in Zimbabwe.

Mr Green had his home, his Commons and constituency offices searched over claims that he leaked confidential Government documents.

The arrest, in an operation described by Mr Green's colleagues as 'Stalinesque', plunged the Tories into an unprecedented row with the police and the Government.

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Street and the Home Office must have been notified.

Extraordinarily, it emerged that Mr Cameron, Boris Johnson and Commons Speaker Michael Martin were all informed about the raids. Yet No 10 insisted the Prime minister and Home Secretary had no advance knowledge.

But one senior backbencher said the arrest 'smacks of a police state'.
Mr Cameron said: 'The police have to answer questions. Frankly, government ministers have got questions to answer as well.'

He asked why nine counter-terrorism officers had to enter Mr Green's family home in Kent: 'If they wanted to talk to Damian Green, why not pick up the telephone and ask to talk to him?'

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