John, Nice. There is no pecking order. The police have a duty to uphold the law and the m.p.'s have the same duty as every citizen to respect and obey the law.

r. leslie, liverpool , england

No minister is above the law. Nice to experience the early dawn raid first hand. Could have been worse, the rest of us have our door kicked in usually. but Im sure in this instance they rang the bell.

Kenny L, hove,

since when did the police do the bidding of home office officials? and since when did they order the police about without consulting the Home Secretary.?who is for their actions responsible under the doctrine of ministerial reprehensibility I'm afraid I do not believe Jacqui Smith's denials

peter c, Devizes, Wessex

I am so glad that Mr. Blunkett could see the mistakes of Jacqui Smith and the Met Police. Maybe he should lend her his dog !

George, London, UK

I thought this was a very good article, quite a rarity on the topic. Looks like Stephenson was currying favour with Normington to ensure his appointment as next Met boss.

Dan, tokyo, Japan

Patrick of Luton says it all, and Cameron does nothing for his image by adopting the holier than thou approach over MP's - who do they think they are anyway? Of course, not ordinary people!

Terry, L'Absie, France

A continual erosion of rights has allowed us to sleep walk into a semi-police state where dissent, a differing opinion or a search for truth will not be tolerated. The people of this country should not be afraid of the Government, the Government should now be afraid of the people!

Michael Tomlinson, Chester,

Every day the UK looks more and more like a banana republic.

KM, London,

Sir. Most of the previous contributors clearly fail to grasp the implications for democracy and freedom of speech inherent in the actions of the government AND the police in this matter. Nobody is claimng the Mr Green has broken any law. This is simply political intimidation.

Ken Irvine, Fareham, UK

Perhaps we will now see an improvement in Police attitude and behaviour. Too many of them think they are above the law and seek to intimidate and cow the innocent (until proven guilty!). An MP has now experienced what is routine for others to suffer - disrupted lives and rumour and speculation.

Anon, London,

The only people 'up in arms' about this are the politicos and their media allies - The majority of the British public think its fair justice. Why should MP's not be subject to 'our' laws. Well done the Met Police. You do a hard nasty job and this is just another facet to it.

Rod McLeod, Ostrava, Czech Republic

are police above politicians in the pecking order or vice versa???

john , nice , france

This had to happen, for years our brainless government has enjoyed being buddys with the police giving them a misguided impression they are untouchable but now that the crys have gone up as they move against the law makers, one could argue this is only poetic justice for politicial short sightedness

Chris Ryder, Banbury, UK

When do we see the police enquiry into last week's comprehensive leaking of Brown/Darling's Pre Budget Report to the whole media?

Philip C, Wallingford, Oxon

Whilst I understand the indiginity suffered by Damian Green, it is nothing more than any other UK citizen has or could suffered by the authorities at any point. I don't see a furrore when citizen Joe gets picked up. A nasty Civil servant is abusing his position and should be jailed.

Patrick, Luton, UK

Stephensons application will, no doubt , be binned come Monday morning. He is a closet Ian Blair with the same poor judgement. This should leave the door open for a non politically aligned, but politically aware, Sir Hugh Ord as Commissioner, and Mike Fuller as the Deputy Commissioner.

pete, Croydon, uk