Thomson arrested. Abbott in dock Suspended Labor MP Craig Thomson is arrested and charged with the first of what police say will be 150 offences involving fraud. This is a man Labor spent $300,000 and huge political capital in defending. The ABC's Tony Jones goes for the jugular. The jugular of.... TONY JONES: Did Tony Abbott go too far when he accused the Prime Minister of running a protection racket for Craig Thomson?... TONY JONES: Protection racket is a neatly chosen phrase though isn't it? It has connotations of criminality, even Mafia-style behaviour. It wasn't a slip of the tongue, was it?... TONY JONES: So political protector. You confine it to that, do you? Because protection racket could imply some form of criminality, some form of, for example, perverting the course of justice behind the scenes. There's no allegation that the Prime Minister's done anything like that or used her power in any way to change the course of the investigation, is there?... TONY JONES: Let's get it straight what the allegation is. There's no suggestion at all is there, or allegation that the Prime Minister used her power as Prime Minister inappropriately in any way to affect the investigations into Craig Thomson?... TONY JONES: Does the Coalition have any evidence at all the Prime Minister's decision to lock in September 14 as the election date was in any way motivated by prior knowledge of what was about to happen to Craig Thomson, his arrest and being charged?... TONY JONES: ... are you at all concerned about the way Mr Thomson has been treated, about the circus around his arrest, the dragging in of television cameras along with five police to arrest him at home when surely they could have rung him up and asked him simply to present himself at the police station?... TONY JONES: Well his lawyer denies, I believe, that he was given a prior opportunity to present himself to the police and says this is some kind of colosseum-like circus that's been constructed with a media alongside. Are you at all worried at all that that could in any way impair due process? Thanks to reader But of Course. ABC radio host Jon Faine opens his program today with this comment on the charging of Craig Thomson: Despite the frenzy of many media colleagues, they are merely procedural matters. Move along, folks. Nothing to see. A more interesting and relevant question: is an MP facing court action from Fair Work Australia and another 150 charges laid by police in any position between now and the election to properly represent his constituents? Should he not resign? UPDATE Strip searches are shocking - when it's finally a politician who must endure one: Craig Thomson was stripped naked and searched by court officers on the NSW Central Coast in an attempt to intimidate him, the embattled federal MP's lawyer says... ââThese two goons put on rubber gloves, one stood in front of him, one stood behind him, and they said âtake off your shirt,""" [Chris] McArdle told Network Ten... Mr McArdle described the treatment of his client as ââabsolutely extraordinary intimidation of an innocent man"." Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin said that strip searches were a standard procedure for people coming into custody and that there were no reports of any use of force against Mr Thomson. The Sydney Morning Herald's Mark Kenny starts his report: The surprise arrest of beleaguered former Labor MP Craig Thomson... Er, a surprise to whom?