The Hindu : International : Buckingham Palace security under review

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004

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International

Buckingham Palace security under review

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, SEPT 14. An urgent review of security at Buckingham Palace has been ordered following Monday's embarrassing incident in which a protester, dressed as Batman, managed to scale its heavily-guarded walls and reach the royal balcony as policemen looked on helplessly and tourists happily clicked their cameras.

For nearly five hours, Jason Hatch of "Fathers 4 Justice'', a pressure group campaigning for estranged husbands' right to have access to their children, stood next to the balcony meant for the royal family, and thumbed his nose at the police in what is seen as one of the biggest security lapses at the Palace.

The incident came barely months after new measures were put in place and a high-profile security chief was appointed to make the Palace "one of the safest buildings in the world,'' as The Times recalled.

"Buckingham Palace officials were mortified yesterday that they have again been exposed as a soft touch for intruders,'' the newspaper said amid a media frenzy over the latest in a series of security breaches involving the royal residences.

The review, ordered by the Metropolitan Police Chief John Stevens, was expected to focus on Brigadier Jeffrey Cook who was appointed recently to strengthen security after a newspaper reporter was able to get job as the Queen's footman and gain access to her personal apartments.

An embarrassment

Sir John admitted that what happened on Monday was an embarrassment. "It's not good enough and we want to know how this happened,'' he said.

The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, while denying that the security system had failed, acknowledged in a BBC interview that he was "not satisfied everything worked perfectly last night.'' Critics said the incident could have had "terrible consequences'' if the protester had been a terrorist.

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