Bailed MP: ‘I was just doing my job’

Shadow immigration minister Damian Green, who was arrested yesterday by counter-terrorism officers for nine hours after he published leaked Government documents, has said he was persecuted for doing his job.

A "tired and angry" Green, speaking outside the House of Commons in the early hours of this morning, said: "I was astonished to have spent more than nine hours under arrest for doing my job. I emphatically deny that I have done anything wrong. I have many times made public information that the government wanted to keep secret, information that the public has a right to know.

Green was arrested in his Ashford constituency at about 1.50pm yesterday, then taken to a central London police station for questioning, and only released at around 11pm, on unconditional bail.

Conservative leader David Cameron is understood to be "very angry" at the "Stalinesque" event, according to an un-named Tory source. He is said to suspect the arrest had been approved at top political levels, however the Met police denied there was any ministerial involvement.