The 59-year-old man was held at around 6.30am today at his home in the Knowsley area of Merseyside on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, corruption and conspiracy to commit both those offences.

 

He was being questioned at a police station in Merseyside and his home was being searched.

 

The arrest - a result of information given to police by News Corporation's Management and Standards Committee - brings the number of people detained under Operation Elveden, the investigation into inappropriate payments, to 57.

 

A Met spokesman said that the arrest: "relates to suspected payments to a public official and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately."