Top-level probe into royal footman security blunder

ROYAL security will be investigated by an independent commission after revelations that an undercover reporter posed as a Buckingham Palace footman, British Home Secretary David Blunkett said yesterday.

Embarrassed Royal officials have also launched an inquiry after "insufficient" checks allowed the security breach during the build-up to US President George W Bush's state visit.

Mr Blunkett, who was moved to make an emergency statement to MPs on the incident, insisted security vetting procedures on the reporter were carried out "robustly and correctly".

But he added: "I am concerned that the system as a whole needs to be reviewed ".

While the Home Office's security and criminal records checks had been successful, employment checks "proved insufficient in this case", Mr Blunkett said.

Buckingham Palace, which is responsible for the employment checks, confirmed that an internal inquiry had been launched and a senior Scotland Yard officer said police were "vigorously" investigating the matter.

Daily Mirror reporter Ryan Parry used a fake reference to get the job, which he held for two months as police and royal staff prepared for the arrival of the United States president.

He was due to serve breakfast to the president's top aides, the newspaper said.

The Mirror ran 15 pages covering the investigation in yesterday's edition, including pictures of Mr Parry dressed in red livery and shots from inside the palace, including the president's bedroom, the Queen's breakfast table and the Duke of York's room, complete with soft toys.

The reporter wrote: "Had I been a terrorist intent on assassinating the Queen or President George W Bush, I could have done so with absolute ease.

"Indeed, this morning I would have been serving breakfast to key members of his government, including National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and US Secretary of State Colin Powell," he added. A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said yesterday: "We are conducting a full investigation into how the Mirror reporter came to be employed at Buckingham Palace."

In August, Mr Parry responded to a job advertisement on a recruitment page of the Buckingham Palace official website.

On his CV, he excluded details of his journalistic career and included one fake reference and a real one, the newspaper claimed.

Mr Parry claimed no rigorous security checks were done on his background.

Despite this, he said he was given a full, all-areas security pass on his first day and had direct access to the Queen's food, which he said he could have poisoned.