UK on alert: The political fallout from the Madrid bombings shook the Blair government yesterday as London remained on a high state of alert to the risk of a terrorist attack.
The announcement by Scotland Yard last night that four suspicious packages were sent to "diplomatic premises" in London yesterday increased pressure on the government to reassure the public's fears.
The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia confirmed that it had received an envelope containing white powder yesterday morning. In a statement, the embassy said: "The embassy contacted the British authorities who dealt with the matter on the spot." Scotland Yard could not confirm whether the suspicious packages were sent to one or more premises.
As the new £100,000 poster campaign in London urged the public to be the eyes and ears of the police in the "war" on terror, it was confirmed for the first time that plainclothes anti-terrorist officers have been patrolling the capital's transport system since the beginning of the year. That confirmation came as British Transport Police said more people using the London Underground would be randomly stopped and searched. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, said he would not hesitate to deploy troops on London's streets if he felt there was sufficient threat.
The government, meanwhile, was battling fresh suggestions that the Iraq war had increased the threat to Britain and the world after Spain's new socialist prime minister-elect José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero branded it a "big disaster". The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, held 15 minutes of talks with Mr Zaperto on the telephone yesterday. Downing Street described their conversation as "warm and friendly" and said Mr Blair would meet his new Spanish counterpart after he assumes office in a few weeks. The leader of the House of Commons, Mr Peter Hain, said the new Spanish government's opposition to the Iraq conflict should not be a barrier to co-operation.
However, Mr Hain's predecessor, Mr Robin Cook, who quit the cabinet over the war, seized on the Spanish electorate's blow to the Bush/Blair coalition and said the whole world was less safe as a result of the conflict.
Rejecting Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw's assertion that Britain's part in the war had not made it a greater target, Mr Cook said: "The war in Iraq was a spectacular mistake in terms of combating terrorism."
Speaking on BBC Radio Four's World at One programme, Mr Cook argued: "We helped polarise opinion between the Islamic world and the West. We provided a clear focus for discontent, campaigning, for propaganda by the terrorists. We provided a whole new field of operation for al-Qaeda that wasn't there before. Worst of all we broke up that great global coalition against terrorism that came into being in the wake of September 11th. All of that has actually been a step back in combating terrorism."
Speaking earlier on the BBC's Today programme, Mr Straw said: "So far as people feeling they have become a bigger target, obviously we are going to hear a lot of this argument. All I can say is that no one should get the idea that somehow if you were a country which was opposed to the military action in Iraq, you are less of a target for al-Qaeda and these terrible Islamic fanatics. Not at all."
A committee of MPs reports today that problems with the supply of protective equipment meant British troops would have suffered "severe" consequences had Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against them.
The Commons Defence Committee says cites "serious shortcomings" in the supply and distribution of vital equipment would have left troops vulnerable to chemical attack. The report also accuses ministers of a misjudgment in failing to plan earlier for the country's post-war reconstruction.