Anti-terror chief criticises media leaks

Tabloid newspapers were tipped off the night before dawn raids in Birmingham at the end of January. Lurid leaks about an alleged plot to behead a Muslim soldier hampered the investigation, according to the head of the Metropolitan police anti-terrorist branch.

Tony Blair made his weekly trip to the Commons for prime minister's questions - and it wasn't a pleasant one.

The Liberal Democrats tonight wrote to the West Midlands Police asking for an investigation to see if the leaks constituted a criminal offence.

Any number of officials or political advisers in these offices around Whitehall could have tipped off journalists about the imminent police raids. But finding the mole is notoriously difficult. Opposition politicians have pointed the finger of suspicion first at the Home Office, over the other side of Whitehall, then the Cabinet Office behind me, and finally the Ministry of Defence across the road.

All three departments deny responsibility.

Downing Street has held numerous leak inquiries since Labour came to power - including one into disclosures about the wallpaper in number 10, the Conservatives say. One senior government official admitted the prime minister's top civil servant is now under serious pressure to agree to the Tories' written request for a probe.

Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, a former head of Whitehall's Joint Intelligence Committee, told Channel 4 News anyone caught leaking should face the toughest penalties.

The police are accused by the government of a steady flow of leaks during the cash for honours investigation. Police officers and ministers both insist they want to turn the tap off before their relationship is permanently damaged.

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