BRITAIN: The Leader of the House of Commons, Mr Peter Hain, has demanded an urgent report into how two Greenpeace activists breached Westminster security and scaled Big Ben during anti-war protests on Saturday.
The huge security and political embarrassment came as police continued to investigate links between the Madrid bombings and terror suspects in the UK - and as a chief emergency planner warned that the UK's local authorities would be unable to cope with a terror attack of the same scale as that on Madrid.
Metropolitan Police Commander Brian Paddick announced an "automatic" security review following the Big Ben protest while insisting there was never any danger of the two men getting inside the Palace of Westminster.
But that failed to satisfy Mr Hain, who declared himself "very disturbed" by the incident which he admitted was "a huge embarrassment".
Mr Paddick said the two men, carrying rucksacks and mobile telephones, triggered an alarm when they launched their protest and that police quickly established they were anti-war protesters who wanted to unfurl a banner.
However, Mr Hain voiced the insistent question - "what if these had been suicide bombers" - as fellow Labour MP Mr Tom Watson suggested the two men "were lucky not to be shot on sight".
Mr Hain told the BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme: "It is a huge embarrassment, both to the House authorities and the policing arrangements. Twenty or 30 years ago an audacious protest like that by Greenpeace would have been seen for exactly that. But what if these had been suicide bombers?"
The activists, brothers Harry and Simon Westaway, were later released on bail. They scaled a wall and security fence before climbing the 315ft clock tower, where they continued their protest for almost seven hours.
Meanwhile, as Metropolitan Commissioner Sir John Stevens again said he was investigating logistical and financial supports linking the Madrid bombing suspects to the UK, the chief of the Emergency Planning Society, Mr Patrick Cunningham, fuelled fears about Britain's contingency plans to deal with a major terrorist attack. He told the Independent on Sunday: "It's unbelievable. We are concerned our own emergency plans are not going to meet public expectations."
Mr Cunningham - who represents professionals involved in emergency planning and crisis and disaster management in local government, industry, the utilities and emergency services - suggested UK local-authority planners would only be able to offer "a token gesture of support" in the event of a major disaster.