allegations that a secret undercover police unit carried out spying operations on labour mps need to be investigated immediately,  nick clegg demanded this morning the deputy prime minister said the idea that elected politicians were being 'snooped on' because of their views 'appalled' him and urged the home secretary theresa may to order a wider probe into undercover police tactics to investigate allegations it comes after a former officer, peter francis, said he read files on 10 mps during his 11 years working for the metropolitan police's now notorious special demonstration squad the deputy prime minister said the idea that elected politicians were being 'snooped on' because of their views 'appalled' him  he said the files included labour's now deputy leader harriet harman , former cabinet minister peter hain and jack straw, later home secretary details about the targets were collected by officers infiltrating anti racism and other left wing political groups, and apparently continued after they were elected to parliament the former officer claimed he personally collected information on diane abbott, jeremy corbyn and the late bernie grant and said special branch collected intelligence on ken livingstone, joan ruddock, dennis skinner, and tony benn the pink files were 'very extensive' he said, and included details of a subject's political beliefs, family relationships, personal background, education, and finances some contained details of 'personal and private matters', he said if true, the files on many of the subjects existed years after they entered parliament four of those on his list became ministers during his time in special branch the revelations prompted demands for a forthcoming public inquiry into undercover policy to be widened to include the new allegations speaking on lbc this morning, mr clegg said the allegations, if true, were 'absolutely terrible' he said: 'the idea that the police snooping and monitoring elected politicians in effect because of their views   because they were deemed to be from the left, that they were somehow dodgy   it absolutely appalls me 'i know there's an inquiry into undercover police tactics and i very much hope it will look at these allegations because they are not the kind of thing you want in a free society 'politicians, regardless of their views, should be able to represent their constituents and express their opinions without being monitored by the police' a secret undercover police unit carried out spying operations on now deputy labour leader harriet harman (left) and former foreign secretary jack straw  mr francis was an undercover officer between 1993 and 1997 in the now disbanded special demonstrations squad he infiltrated left wing groups and causes which were deemed to potentially pose a threat to national security he told the bbc: 'when i was deployed undercover in the special demonstration squad, any mp that i came across, such as on demonstrations, i would report back on them' 'when they became mps these files carried on it [was] your duty as an sds officer to report back any intelligence that you come across' 'i felt that it was ok to report back on mps,' he said 'i used to give myself a pat on the back, thinking 'i have done a good job' these mps were spied on and they should know' 'i don't think the police force should be monitoring mps, full stop i don't think we have any right to do that at all it may be justifiable to say that the security service should be doing it   but i certainly don't think the police should be doing it' mr hain told the guardian: 'that the special branch had a file on me dating back 40 years ago to anti aparthied and anti nazi league activist days is hardly revelatory 'that these files were still active for at least 10 years while i was an mp certainly is and raises fundamental questions about parliamentary sovereignty' scotland yard pointed out that operation herne the internal police investigation into the unit was still ongoing, but that mr francis had refused to speak to it about his claims a former officer said he read files on 10 mps during his 11 years working for the special demonstration squad including diane abbott (left) and special branch collected intelligence on dennis skinner (right) special branch also investigated former london mayor ken livingstone (right) and former welsh secretary peter hain (left) who said the files raised 'fundamental questions' about parliamentary sovereignty  a met spokesman said: 'operation herne has previously reported publicly on sds methodology and remains a live ongoing investigation 'operation herne maintains that without speaking to peter francis it is simply not possible to fully investigate allegations he makes operation herne remains very willing to engage with him' the taxpayer faces a compensation bill running into the tens of millions of pounds from miscarriages of justice linked to a the sds hundreds of animal rights activists, neo nazi groups, campaigners for black justice and other campaigners who, unknowingly, were spied on by the special demonstration squad could have their convictions overturned women have also sued the met after having children with undercover officers who they thought were genuine protesters
labour harriet harman peter hain jack straw nick clegg this morning
a former officer from a secret police unit admitted spying on labour mps . targets included deputy leader harriet harman, peter hain and jack straw . nick clegg this morning said the allegations, if true, were 'terrible'. deputy prime minister said  a probe into police tactics to investigate them 