Monday, February 11, 2008

Commons security - or lack of it

Having recently been to the Houses of Parliament a couple times, I have been amazed at the security arrangements.

Fair enough - it is difficult to get in. You have to queue up for ages and go through an almighty series of friskings etc. And getting into the Commons public gallery requires a whole separate series of friskings and handover of "testicles, spectacles, wallet and watch" etc. Plus they've got that phenomenal piece of engineering which is the perspex barrier between the gallery and the chamber.

And if you try to go into the Commons to heckle you'll have a Heckler pointed up your jaxi yourself - a Heckler & Koch that is, courtesy of the two large gentlemen of the constabulary protecting the Commons entrance. I wondered vaguely near them once, looking for the entrance, and they soon perked up and said briskly: "Sir?"

But apart from that...(with acknowledgements to "Life of Brian") you can actually roam aorund remarkably freely in the corridors and right up to the committee rooms and there are loads of tourists you can mingle with. You can hide in toilets, go back and forwards, stay in there all day and night if you want. I am sure you could doss in there if you wanted to and were clever about it.

I am amazed there isn't more mischief played in the environs of the Palace of Westminster. Today's Independent highlights one such issue (it's also covered by the Telegraph):

A leaked Home Office document has revealed that five intelligence reports since 2006 showed that a cleaning company used by Parliament employed South Americans working illegally on false passports and identities.

The Tories accused ministers of covering up a "catastrophic failure of security" after an illegal immigrant, a Brazilian woman, was caught trying to gain entry to Parliament by using another person's security pass.

Her employer, Emprise Services, said that it would redouble its efforts to spot identity theft and passport fraud.

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