Pressure piles on British PM over huge data loss

BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologised and announced an investigation yesterday amid angry questions about how private records containing nearly half of Britain’s bank details vanished in the post.

The personal data of some 25 million people — virtually every family with children under 16, likely including Mr Brown’s — went missing in the biggest-ever loss of personal information by any government. Two password-protected compact discs containing the names, addresses, dates of birth and bank account details of millions disappeared after a junior official, who failed to post them by recorded delivery, sent them to auditors.

The incident is a serious embarrassment for Mr Brown who — as Chancellor under Tony Blair — prided himself on restoring his Labour Party’s reputation for economic competence and oversaw the creation of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the body responsible for the loss.