MPs are at loggerheads over the issues Operation Lancet has raised and what the future holds for Cleveland Police.

Ashok Kumar, one of the leaders of the campaign to clear Detective Superintendent Ray Mallon, has continually demanded a public inquiry into why Lancet was launched, how it was handled and how much it has cost.

Yesterday, the MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland said: "Justice has triumphed. Ray can now walk with his head high.

"That is good news for Ray and his family, and it can be good news for Teesside.

"The key issue now is for Ray to be let back to do the job he knows best, stamping out crime on the streets of Teesside, and the responsibility for seeing this happen rests four-square with the Chief Constable Barry Shaw. The people of Teesside want Ray back at work."

But yesterday, a leaked report by barristers of the Treasury counsel, who reviewed evidence from Operation Lancet, heavily criticised Middlesbrough CID and Det Supt Mallon's Zero Tolerance policy.

Speaking about the report, Stockton North MP Frank Cook said: "Those who have been so enthusiastic in their assaults on Operation Lancet should now pause for thought.

"If, and I stress if, the findings of the Treasury counsel are correctly reported, they demonstrate beyond all doubt that the decision to instigate the investigation was entirely justified because things were going very badly wrong within Midddlesbrough CID at the time.

"No one can deny that Operation Lancet has been a painful, and a costly, experience but, if as now seems clear, it has revealed issues of conduct which have implications far beyond the Cleveland force area, then I believe we should recognise that the pain and cost was a small price to pay in defence of proper policing standards and a respect for the law.

"The alternative is simply accept that, in fighting crime, there should be no limits and no controls. That might have superficial short-term appeal. In the long run it is a recipe for a disaster and a threat to all our civil rights."

But Stockton South MP Dari Taylor has joined the calls for an independent inquiry into Lancet and its findings.

In a letter to Home Secretary Jack Straw, she said: "The straight fact is that many people believe that this investigation was primarily motivated by petty jealousies rather then impartial judgements, leading to allegations of inappropriate policing activities."