Reid tells of anguish over decision to delay arrest of liquid bomb plotters

FORMER home secretary John Reid has admitted he feared delaying the arrest of the liquid bomb plotters would cost thousands of lives and bring down the government.

The ex-Cabinet minister, now Lord Reid, has told how he reluctantly allowed the police and security services to carry on surveillance on the terrorists until they had gathered enough evidence to convict them. However, the decision caused a dispute with the US officials, who were desperate to avoid a repeat of the 9/11 attacks on America.

In a new documentary called Liquid Bomb Plot to be broadcast tomorrow, Reid tells how he warned officials he was worried that if he got the decision wrong it would lead to a huge loss of life, cost him his job and bring down the Labour government.

The Celtic chairman was home secretary when the suicide bomb plot to blow up transatlantic airliners was foiled in August, 2006, and was put in charge of the operation as the then prime minister Tony Blair was on holiday.

He said: "I remember being briefed by MI5 and they told me: "We know this is a big plot, we know there is a grave danger but we don't have the threshold of evidence to convict these people and we would like to wait'.

"It's at this point that I faced a dreadful dilemma with a very profound judgment to be made. If you go in too early then it is highly likely that you will not have the threshold of evidence to convict people who may be released and may try this again. If on the other hand you wait to get the evidence necessary to reach that threshold of charge and conviction you take a risk that they will actually embark on an awful act of terrorism."

Reid says he remembers thinking about the consequences. "I believe I am recorded as saying, 'Do you understand what will happen if we miscalculate? There will be the huge and tragic loss of life and there will be the tragic loss of your job, my job and the government will fall. Now go on and do it.'"

In the programme, to be shown on the National Geographic Channel, former US Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff and ex-CIA director General Michael Hayden said the British stance led to a disagreement as President George Bush wanted swift action taken against the suspects. Hayden said: "We were sensitive to the concerns of our British partners but there was a dispute between friends about, 'How long do you let it run before you disrupt it?'"