I have to say that I, for the reasons the police have given, have found their (the police's) request for this power (of detention) absolutely compelling,

Instead of wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on compulsory ID cards... let that money provide thousands more police officers on the beat in our local communities.

Anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.

The police uniform and the firearm we carry are symbols of our legal authority,

The community has been very much behind the Metropolitan Police after the events of July 7 and 21, and I think this is a very good example of that,

These allegations strike to the heart of the integrity of the police and integrity of the Met and I fundamentally reject them. There is no cover-up.