Police chief accuses Speaker in explosive letter to Jacqui Smith

An unprecedented challenge to the authority of Michael Martin, the Speaker of the Commons, has emerged in a letter from Bob Quick, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, over the police raid without a warrant on Damian Green's private office at the Commons

In the communication to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, Quick flatly contradicts the version of events given to MPs by the Speaker on Wednesday. Quick's letter has been placed in the library of the Commons and a copy has been handed to the Mole: it makes explosive reading.

The letter, delivered to Smith on Wednesday night, may explain why two senior ministers - Leader of the House Harriet Harman and Housing Minister Margaret Beckett - refused to give their unqualified support to Martin in interviews with the media.

The Speaker blamed Serjeant at Arms Jill Pay for letting the police raid the Commons without a warrant and criticised the police for failing to follow legal procedures. He told MPs: "The police did not explain, as they are required to do, that the Serjeant was not obliged to consent or that a warrant could be insisted upon."

That raised serious questions about the legality of the police action, voiced again yesterday by lawyer and Tory MP Douglas Hogg, son of the late Tory Lord Chancellor. But in his letter to the Home Secretary, Quick, who is a candidate for the Commissioner's job and is said to be the Government's favourite Met officer, rejects Martin's account.

He says: "The officers explained the nature of the investigation and purpose of the search and were satisfied that the Serjeant at Arms understood that police had no power to search in the absence of a warrant and therefore could only do so with her written consent or that of the Speaker".

The Speaker also told MPs that Ms Pay had failed to consult the clerk of the Commons - the leading legal adviser to the Speaker. But Quick says in his letter that "it is understood that the Serjeant at Arms had obtained legal advice" before giving her written consent to the officers to search Green's office.

This is a clear conflict of evidence, and someone - as in all the great trials - appears to be lying. The police are clearly determined to defend their corner. And for the moment, Jacqui Smith appears to be backing them to the hilt.

The Government, meanwhile, is being accused by some of its own backbenchers of trying to kick the row into the long grass. The Speaker announced he was setting up a committee of seven senior MPs to investigate. But a motion tabled by Harman for a debate on Monday says the committee must be adjourned until after the police investigation into Green and the leaker at the Home Office, Chris Galley, has been completed.

Tory leader David Cameron is said to be furious at this betrayal of the Commons and a counter motion is being drafted by the Tories forcing a vote on Monday. The Mole has learned that even independent-minded Labour MPs such as Andrew Mackinlay are complaining at the Government's feeble attempt to duck the issue. "It could take 15 months for the police to finish their investigation and that means this committee may not even meet until just before the general election. It's a total farce," he told friends.

Mackinlay - one of the few MPs to take a close interest in the constitution - is determined to get his name on the list of MPs to be appointed to the committee. Normally, Mackinlay would stand no chance, since the Government will want to appoint people it can trust to the Committee. But there is a strong rumour that the Speaker is now fed up with the lack of support he is getting from ministers. He is said to be determined to stick to his guns and insist on appointing his own choices to the Committee, giving two fingers to Harman's preferred poodles.

Martin may yet want to show he is ready to stand up to the Government by making Mackinlay one of the seven.

THE MOLE: SPEAKER UNDER PRESSURE

LAST UPDATED 4:26 PM, DECEMBER 4, 2008