Britain's security services are under new scrutiny today after reports that the suspected "mastermind" of the London terror attacks was able to leave the country days before the fatal bombings.
Politicians have called for reassurances after Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair admitted a man who had been on an intelligence service watch list had not been put under surveillance.
The man, who has not been named, arrived at the Suffolk port of Felixstowe and left from London's Heathrow Airport under the eyes of Special Branch , which monitors all flights, hours before the suicide blasts, according to the Daily Mail.
Sir Ian also said he believed detectives would establish a "clear link" between the London bombers and al Qaida and has given a new warning of the "very strong possibility" of further attacks.
His admission came as it emerged that one of the bombers - Mohammad Sidique Khan - attended Parliament last year as the guest of a Labour MP. Khan (30) who killed himself and six commuters on a Tube train near Edgware Road, met Labour MP Jon Trickett in July 2004.
He was invited in his capacity as a learning mentor at Hillside Primary School in Beeston, Leeds, where Mr Trickett's wife Sarah is headteacher. Khan met Cabinet minister Hilary Benn, the International Development Secretary, and rubbed shoulders with unsuspecting politicians on a tour of the Palace of Westminster with Mr Trickett.
The revelation has prompted fears that the Houses of Parliament may have been considered as a target. Mr Trickett, who has lived in Beeston, said: "Many years after leaving, I met Mr Khan in July 2004 when he accompanied a school trip to London during which time they briefly visited Portcullis House for a sandwich and met with their local MP.
"It is profoundly disturbing to discover that a person, who appeared to care so deeply for the children at that time, should so callously take the lives of others only a year later." The Labour Party said that as soon as the MP realised Khan was one of the London suicide bombers, he informed the chief superintendent in charge of Commons security.
Fellow Labour MP John McDonnell will make a speech today saying it is "intellectually unsustainable" to claim the Iraq war played no part in provoking the bombings.
The left-winger will offer his view as he chairs a Labour Representation Committee conference. In Cairo, Scotland Yard detectives are hoping to question an Egyptian biochemist arrested in connection with the July 7th attacks.
Police hope to quiz Magdy el-Nashar (33), about a flat in Leeds and over suggestions he knew one of the bombers, Jamaican-born Islamic convert Lindsay Jamal. El-Nashar is understood to have denied any connection to the attacks.
He arrived at Leeds University in October 2000 and completed a biochemistry PhD in May, sponsored by the National Research Centre in Cairo. One friend claimed he was a "brilliant chemist" and there was "nothing remotely sinister" about his work.
Police are also probing links between the bombers and Pakistan-based al Qaida cells. Intelligence officials in Pakistan believe that within the last year one of the bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, visited a radical religious school there run by a banned Sunni Muslim militant group. Officials said he may also be connected to a man arrested for a 2002 attack on a church near the US Embassy.
Meanwhile, detectives in Leeds are trying to establish whether a substance found in a raid there, reportedly in a bath, is acetone peroxide - also known as "Mother of Satan" and TATP. TATP has been chosen for other al Qaida operations in the past and is an explosive of choice among Middle East extremist groups.
It was also used by British-born attempted shoe bomber Richard Reid. Sir Ian yesterday acknowledged that one man who was on a security services watch list, and who entered the country shortly before the attacks, was not put under surveillance. He had apparently not been considered a high enough priority and flew out again just before the bombers struck.
"With this particular man there is nothing at the moment that links him directly," Sir Ian said. But Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said: "These reports do flag up the issue of resourcing the police and intelligence services.
"On Monday I will be asking the Home Secretary for reassurances that existing resources are sufficient to tackle terrorist threats." In the wake of the admission the Immigration Service Union (ISU) also said information gathering at Britain's ports of entry should be enhanced.
Agencies