The former head of the Metropolitan Police is to advise both Gordon Brown and David Cameron on security and policing issues.

Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington was appointed as Mr Brown’s senior security adviser on international security issues yesterday. Last week it was disclosed that he had turned down the offer of a minister’s post, saying that it would be too much of a burden.

In February, the Conservatives announced that Lord Stevens would head a Tory working group on plans to create a new border police force. David Davis, the Tory home affairs spokesman, welcomed his role advising Mr Brown and said that he would continue as head of the party’s border police task force.

The demand from both Labour and the Conservatives for Lord Stevens’s counsel reflects voters’ concerns about the continuing terrorist threat and regard for the tough, independent and plain-speaking style that made him an effective Whitehall operator.

Lord Stevens used his autobiography, Not for the Fainthearted, two years ago to launch a blistering attack on David Blunkett, who was Home Secretary for much of his term as Met commissioner.

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