Posted on 11/19/2003 4:06:35 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
An undercover reporter who worked as a footman at Buckingham palace for two months claimed today that he could have assassinated President Bush as he arrived last night.
Daily Mirror journalist Ryan Parry, who was given the job despite providing a bogus reference, said he was never searched and had been given "unfettered access" throughout the palace for the past eight weeks, including during the build up to George Bush's high-profile state visit this week.
This morning, as police and royal officials launched an urgent investigation into the disastrous security lapse, the Daily Mirror reported that Mr Parry "watched unchallenged" from a room in the palace while the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh greeted Mr Bush and his wife in the garden at around 8pm last night.
"Had he been a terrorist hell bent on assassinating the royals or Mr Bush, nothing could have stopped him," the paper reported. Mr Parry had been due to serve breakfast to the president's top aides this morning, the newspaper added.
Despite being new to the job, said Mr Parry, "not once during the entire ... operation did anyone ever search me or my bags as I came and went at Buckingham palace".
Mr Parry quit his job at midnight last night after the arrival of the presidential entourage. One of his last duties had been to lay out chocolates and fruit in the rooms to be occupied by the president and his top aides.
The reporter was also able to walk through royal apartments and take photographs, including images of the rooms to be occupied by the president and his wife.
The Mirror's editor, Piers Morgan, said the paper had not been aware of the forthcoming presidential visit when Mr Parry applied for a job at the palace in August.
After it was announced, it was decided he should withdraw from the palace before any danger arose that he might interfere with security for the visit, he said.
"Once the president was in the palace, we had a responsibility to pull out because we don't want to genuinely compromise any ongoing security while he is here," said Mr Morgan.
The Mirror ran 15 pages covering the investigation in today's edition, including pictures of Mr Parry dressed in red livery and shots from inside the palace, including the president's bedroom, the Queen's breakfast table and the Duke of York's room, complete with soft toys.
"This morning I would have been serving breakfast to key members of his government, including national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and US secretary of state Colin Powell," Mr Parry wrote. "Such is the shocking incompetence at the heart of the biggest security operation ever in Britain."
Mr Parry responded to a job advertisement on a recruitment page of the Buckingham palace official website in August. On his CV, he excluded details of his journalistic career and included one fake reference and a real one, the newspaper claimed. A palace personnel officer checked Mr Parry's character reference - which was provided by a regular in the pub where the reporter used to work - by telephone, the paper added.
Mr Parry claimed no rigorous security checks were done on his background. He used his real name to apply for the job and, according to the Mirror, "a simple check on the internet" would have shown Mr Parry's name and photo byline on articles carried by the Daily Mirror website.
Despite this, Mr Parry said he was given a full, all-areas security pass on his first day and had direct access to the Queen's food, which he said he could have easily poisoned.
Following an incident in June, in which comedian Aaron Barschak gatecrashed Prince William's 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle dressed as Osama bin Laden, police said they had reviewed and tightened royal security measures.
"We are conducting a full investigation into how the Mirror reporter came to be employed at Buckingham palace," a spokeswoman said today.
Urgent talks were being held this morning involving palace officials and Scotland Yard, as the Metropolitan police said they were "vigorously" investigating the security breach.
"All the agencies involved are vigorously looking at the issues," said Scotland Yard's deputy assistant commissioner, Andy Trotter. "We have been in discussion this morning about it with those involved in recruiting and vetting procedures."
The White House press office made no comment on the incident.
Mr Morgan told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the investigation had exposed a "scandalous" lack of security at the palace.
"We keep being told this is the biggest security operation of all time and it seems to me to beggar belief that we could get to a situation, as we did last night, where our journalist was detailed with serving breakfast on the presidential floor this morning and at the state banquet tonight," he said.
"Worse than that, he was given the charge last night, when the presidential party arrived, of going in and leaving their chocolates ... completely on his own. He could have done anything.
"Although it is a much over-used justification to say that we are acting in the public interest, and he could have planted a bomb, the sheer scale of what he has achieved with a couple of dodgy references is frightening.
"Given what happened at Windsor Castle last summer, it is scandalous ... We employed very basic subterfuge and got incredible access."
Royal commentator Hugo Vickers said the security breach was "not good".
"I wouldn't like to be the head of the British police explaining to his American counterparts this morning how this came about," he told GMTV.
Nigel Evans, Tory MP for Ribble Valley and a former shadow cabinet member, called for an immediate inquiry.
"It is not beyond the wit of terrorists able to learn to fly planes into skyscrapers in New York to apply for jobs at Buckingham palace, where clearly the security requirements are inadequate," he said.
"A full review of vetting procedures for anyone who applies for a job with the royal household, or anyone who has recently got a job with the royal household, is needed."
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