Terrorism threat in Britain 'growing': police chief

Britain's most senior police officer warned yesterday that the security threat to Britain is the highest "since the second world war." "The level of threat against the United Kingdom is of an unparalleled nature and growing," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said.

In an interview with the BBC, he said that although there was no specific intelligence on a planned attack over the Christmas and New Year holiday period, the risk was a "much graver threat than that posed by Irish republican terrorism."

The warning comes after Home Secretary John Reid said on December 10 that the chances of an attempted terror attack over the Christmas period are "highly likely." "We know the number of conspiracies of a major type are in the tens - 30 or round about that," Reid said.

The UK threat assessment posted on the Home Office and MI5 websites is "severe" - the second highest level, he said.

Speaking on Monday, opposition Conservative leader David Cameron blamed the failures in Iraq for putting the UK at greater risk of terrorist attacks, says Conservative leader David Cameron.

"I think it is clear that over the last few years decisions that have been taken, the difficulties there have been in Iraq, clearly have had a wider effect," Cameron said in responding to a Conservative policy group's report.

The report said that Britain's foreign and domestic security policy has been hindered by a "lack of balance, lack of careful preparation and lack of coherence." Apart from criticizing the Iraq war, it also warned against the UK being the "mute partner" of the US, which Cameron said he agreed with.

"I agree absolutely we should have no truck with anti- Americanism, we should confront that. But we need to make sure this is a balanced and strong relationship and that it works for Britain," he said.