Intelligence chiefs fear terrorists could try to topple Big Ben onto the Houses of Parliament creating hundreds of casualties.Posted on 07/12/2004 2:47:31 AM PDT by MadIvan
Intelligence chiefs fear terrorists could try to topple Big Ben onto the Houses of Parliament creating hundreds of casualties.
A report by MI5 will today call for a raft of radical new security measures to protect Parliament - including a ring of steel around the Palace of Westminster.
As part of the security measures, MI5 is reported to be planning to deploy agents to bases around the UK. The move is designed to combat the threat of home-grown Islamist terrorists linked to the al Qaeda network.
Teams of intelligence officers, surveillance experts, analysts and computer specialists will be permanently based in cities in the West Midlands, the North-West and other areas where extremists are feared to be radicalising Muslim youths.
The MI5 report will be presented to the House of Commons Commission-which oversees security for Parliament. The security services are also expected to call for large concrete blocks sited around Parliament to be removed. But officials are said to be horrified that the blocks could become "lethal projectiles" if a suicide bomber drove a car loaded with explosives into them, according to BBC political correspondent Gary O'Donoghue.
The creation of a parliamentary security director will also be recommended in the report, it is believed.
The review of anti-terror measures at the Commons was prompted by a flour-bomb attack on Tony Blair as he addressed MPs in the House in May.
The attack on the Prime Minister by militant equal rights group Fathers For Justice brought a new urgency to a £5 million upgrade of security at Westminster that was already under way.
It has led to rigorous new checks on all members of the public entering the Houses of Parliament.
Although intelligence chiefs are not aware of a specific current threat to Westminster, the House of Commons is regarded as one of the UK's top terrorist targets.
Big Ben is regarded as particularly vulnerable, either to a bomb attack, from Westminster Bridge, or an air strike.
Last year it emerged that terrorists could launch an attack on the Houses of Parliament by helicopter.
A newspaper investigation found it was possible to charter a helicopter and fly low over the Palace of Westminster without challenge.
Plans for a "ring of steel", which have gone to Cabinet ministers, include closing a section of Bridge Street, between Westminster Bridge and Parliament Square, and paving over the road fronting the Commons.
As part of security measures already introduced, the Public Gallery in the House of Commons has been sealed off by a bulletproof screen, preventing members of the public from launching any missile at politicians.
However, the move failed to protect MPs from the flour attack, which was made from a different area of the spectators' gallery.
Controversial plans to cover the entire chamber with a £2 million reinforced glass dome in the wake of the flour bomb attack are also being considered.
But that idea has been criticised by some MPs as an overreaction to the risk of a terror attack.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
I'd have put it in even more strong words, but at the risk of being banned, I'll keep my four-letter words to myself...
I never heard of this happening.
Where were YOU? We heard about it here in Australia! Made the TV news and all..
Looks like those idiots were lousy shots.
The goings on in the UK parliament don't hold the same interest for an Irish audience.
I'll bet ;-)
I take offence at that.
Maybe the House of Commons needs a new place to meet anyway. It must be one of the more crowded legislatures among the more successful countries in the world. They don't even have enough room for the members to have desks.
You take offence at what?
Ivan- I'm coming to England in October - I hope all flour bombs are put away by then! :-)
WOW the Harrison guy in your link looks like Gary Gilmore!
Would you ever take a chill pill.
The fact that some idiots throwing juvenile 'flour bombs' didn't make the main evening news over here, is hardly a big deal.
You are the one getting all bent out of shape, needlessly.
'Veiled jabs' , indeed.
Incidentally, I believe your country are responsible for inflicting horrendously bad soap operas on an unsuspecting world. But I don't blame you personally for it! ;-)
Oh, I think the House of Commons is a great spectacle. I love the way the Tories and the Labour Party guys bay at each other, and should insults across the peanut gallery. And that voting method - where they all have to go to different rooms is great. Something very vital, and lively about the whole thing.
You should try Brazilian soaps. They actually are a major export. Of course I think most people watch them with the sound off.:)
Seriously one of the things that makes terrorism so annoying is how much impact fighting it has on everybody else.
(wistfully remembering days when the White House didn't have concrete barricades.)
When I get to the UK or Ireland which should be sometime in the next two years I would like to actually see the sights without getting a pat down or having to peer through glass like the MP are some kind of animals at the zoo.
In the case of Glenda Jackson, this may not be a bad thing! ;-)
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