Urgent review after reporter breaches security

British Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered afull-scale review of royal security today after a journalist got a job as a Buckingham Palace footman ahead of George Bush’s historic state visit.

Daily Mirror reporter Ryan Parry took pictures of the bed in which President Bush and his wife Laura are sleeping during their stay, just days before they arrived.

Mr Parry claimed no rigorous security checks were made on his background but he was still given the chance to get close enough to the Queen to have poisoned her.

Buckingham Palace refused to rule out taking legal action against the Mirror and Mr Parry, who was thought to have signed a confidentiality agreement before starting work.

Acting on advice from lawyers, royal officials wrote to the newspaper and its reporter warning them that the Palace was considering legal action for a breach of confidentiality.

Police, an independent commission and royal officials were investigating the breach.

Mr Parry said he used a fake reference to get the job, which he held for two months as police and royal staff prepared for President Bush’s arrival.

In August, Mr Parry had 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.

The Daily Mirror ran 15 pages covering the investigation in today’s edition, including pictures of Mr Parry dressed in red livery and shots from inside the Palace.

Among the photographs were pictures of the President’s bedroom, the Queen’s breakfast table and the Duke of York’s room, complete with soft toys.

He was due to serve breakfast to the President’s top aides this morning but he left the Palace last night after the President arrived, the newspaper said.

The reporter wrote: “Had I been a terrorist intent on assassinating the Queen or American president George 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.

“Such is the shocking incompetence at the heart of the biggest security operation ever in Britain.”

As the vast and expensive police operation for the President’s visit got underway in London, Home Secretary David Blunkett announced an urgent review of royal security.

Making an emergency statement to the Commons, Mr Blunkett 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 urgently.

“The Prime Minister, with the support of the Royal Household, is, therefore, asking the Security Commission, which is an independent body responsible for overseeing breaches of security, to conduct a thorough review.

“I would expect this to cover all aspects of the process of checking those who form part of the Royal Household.”

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

The Security Commission’s interim report is expected by the end of the year.

The commission, established in 1964, is part of the Cabinet Office and has only met three times in the last 17 years – in 1986, 1995 and 2000.

Its most recent report in February 2000 examined the circumstances of a leak to The Sun newspaper in 1998 concerning an alleged Iraqi anthrax threat.

Buckingham Palace, which is responsible for the employment checks, said recruitment procedures had been followed when hiring Mr Parry.

A spokeswoman said: “As a result of the recent employment of a newspaper reporter, apparently recruited under a false reference, the Royal Household have today put in place additional measures to its current recruitment procedures.

“All referees verified the good character of Ryan Parry, both verbally and in writing on either an official Royal Household form or their own company letterhead.”

No disciplinary action would be taken against Palace recruitment staff as current procedures were followed, said the spokeswoman.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said police were not conducting a criminal investigation.

“The Metropolitan Police is conducting a security assessment and we have been in touch with the Mirror,” he said.

The Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Trotter told Channel 4’s News at Noon that he was “extremely concerned” about the breach.

“We are all working together at the moment to make sure we find out how it happened and make sure it can’t happen again.”

The investigation by Mr Parry comes after he exposed security lapses at Wimbledon this summer by obtaining a job as a security guard.

The security breach also followed the incident in June in which the self-styled “comedy terrorist” Aaron Barschak – dressed as Osama bin Laden - gatecrashed Prince William’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle.

Shadow home secretary David Davis said it was “a grave and worrying breach of security at a very important time”.

Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan said the investigation had exposed a “scandalous” lack of security at the Palace, adding: “He could have done anything.”