Darling accused of not telling ‘whole truth’

CONSERVATIVES yesterday accused Alistair Darling of failing to tell “the whole truth” about the loss of confidential child benefit data, and demanded an emergency statement from the Chancellor.

Senior ministers were forced to defend the Government’s competence, as polls suggested blunders, culminating in the loss of 25 million people’s data, have wiped out its reputation for being able to handle a crisis.

Police yesterday searched premises of courier company TNT for a package containing two discs carrying personal details of every child benefit claimant in Britain.