Mr Martin, who retired following criticism of his handling of the expenses scandal this year, told a committee investigating the arrest of frontbencher Damian Green last year that he had been "let down" by an official who failed to require a warrant for the search.

He said that when he demanded an explanation from Serjeant at Arms Jill Pay of her conduct, her boss Malcolm Jack, the Commons Clerk and chief executive, pointed the finger at the police.

"I asked the Serjeant why she had conducted herself in this manner," he told the committee of senior MPs chaired by ex-Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell.

"The Clerk of the House intervened to say that Chief Superintendent Bateman had bamboozled the Serjeant and tricked her into keeping the matter from her immediate superiors.

"The Clerk went on to say that, while Chief Superintendent Bateman was a Metropolitan Police Officer, he also had a duty towards the House."

Asked if he believed the police had targeted the consent of the Serjeant because they did not think they would be able to secure a warrant, he said: "We have a word in Scotland called 'sleekit' and they were being sleekit, they were doing it in a sleekit way to get in."