LONDON CITY

http://www.guardian.co.uk/immigration/story/0,,2210912,00.html

David Cameron today sought to hammer home the Conservative partys
attack on the home secretary, who yesterday faced claims that she had
tried to cover up the employment of 5,000 illegal immigrants in
high-profile government security posts.

At prime ministers questions, Cameron repeated taunts that Jacqui Smith
had failed to live up to Gordon Browns promises of frank and open
government, and that Brown faced losing public trust.

The Tory leader said the government had been caught red-handed putting
spin before safety, quoting from memos in which Smith said the problem
should not be revealed because the Home Office did not have a good
enough explanation for it.

Yesterday, the shadow home secretary, David Davis, described the Home
Offices response as blunder, panic and cover-up.

Brown today reiterated Smiths argument that instead of just talking
about the problem she had acted immediately. The home secretary sat to
his left, smiling as Brown defended her.

We did our duty - not press releases but action, said Brown.

It did not matter when he was told of the discovery of the problem,
because Smith was working to solve it, he said.

Brown also repeated Smiths accusations that the Tories had opposed any
additional red tape for the Security Industry Authority, which carries
out checks on private security employees.

He promised checks on existing workers in the security industry would be
completed by the end of the year.

In uk.legal on Wed, 14 Nov 2007, Steve Greene
wrote :

Oh, they neednt worry about that - they *already* lost that years
ago...
--
Paul Hyett, Cheltenham