BRITAIN: Armed police were guarding the House of Commons last night after the worst breach of Westminster security in living memory saw five pro-hunt demonstrators storm the chamber and force Parliament's suspension.
The Liberal Democrats led outraged MPs in demanding that the Metropolitan Police assume permanent responsibility for security at the Palace at Westminster.
That call came just 24 hours after it was reported that the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, wants the army to take charge of protecting Royal residences following Monday's security outrage which saw a protester from Fathers for Justice successfully scale Queen Elizabeth's ceremonial balcony at the front of Buckingham Palace in broad daylight.
In an atmosphere of growing alarm last night, the co-chairman of the Conservative Party, Dr Liam Fox, said: "Following Buckingham palace on Monday and today at the House of Commons, serious questions need to be asked about how secure our major institutions are."
As MPs voted overwhelmingly to ban fox-hunting and hare-coursing, by 356 votes to 166, police clashed with some 10,000 pro-hunt demonstrators in Parliament Square in some of the worst scenes of violence in central London since the Poll Tax riots.
At the same time, the Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman, Mr Mark Oaten, described the latest extraordinary security violation at the Commons as "the final straw." Reflecting the shock of all MPs at the ease with which the five men bypassed security and entered the chamber from a door to the side of the Speaker's Chair, Mr Oaten declared: "We don't want to hear that more lessons need to be learnt and more reports produced. This is the final straw.
"Managing this internally has now failed. It's time for the Metropolitan Police to be given overall responsibility for House of Commons security," he added.
There were unconfirmed reports that the protesters had entered by a staircase leading to the corridor behind the Speaker's chair, discarding clothes they had worn over their protest T-shirts when presumably first entering the precincts legitimately.
And as Speaker Michael Martin met the man in the eye of the storm over Westminster security, the Sergeant at Arms Sir Michael Cummings, the Leader of the Commons, Mr Peter Hain, said he had underlined in a meeting with both men "how deadly serious this incident could have been." Confirming that "armed police are now guarding the chamber", Mr Hain said the latest incident highlighted the importance of the security review which MI5 and the Metropolitan Police had been asked to undertake urgently and whose recommendations were imminent.
Appearing to reflect predictions of a revolution in Westminster management, he asserted: "Parliament must have modernised security procedures."
The MI5/Met review was ordered following two earlier breaches in which Greenpeace protesters successfully scaled Big Ben and other Fathers for Justice campaigners pelted the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, with purple flour bombs from positions in front of the glass security screen erected in front of the public gallery of the Commons.
Sixteen protesters and one police officer were injured during yesterday's clashes which Scotland Yard said involved only "a small minority" in an otherwise peaceful demonstration.
Ministers are set to use the Parliament Act to force through the hunting ban if it is blocked by the House of Lords in October.