Gordon Brown’s conduct of government came under renewed fire on Thursday after prosecutors decided that Damian Green, the Tory MP arrested over Home Office leaks, will not face charges.

The Conservatives said the unprecedented action against an opposition politician “for doing his job” symbolised an “out-of-touch, authoritarian, failing government that has been in power much too long”. Mr Green told reporters that ministers “all the way up to the prime minister” needed to take responsibility for the actions of officials in instigating the police probe.