Blair's £2m security for conference

Blair will be joined by the Afghan president at this year's event

A £2.2m operation involving 1,000 police and private security guards is being set up to protect Tony Blair and other politicians at the Labour Party conference.

Dorset Police has cancelled all leave and drafted in officers from other forces to help carry out searches in Bournemouth before the five-day event.

The force is also borrowing extra armed officers, dogs and horses as part of Operation Pegasus, which has been planned for a year.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai is to appear as star guest at the conference at Bournemouth International Centre, which is expected to bring 18,000 other delegates, press and exhibitors to the seaside town.

The Labour Party conference last came to Bournemouth in 1999

The Home Office is footing the £2.27m bill for the operation, which runs from noon on Sunday until 1600 BST next Thursday.

A total of 700 police officers will be involved, as well as 150 police support staff and 150 private security staff employed by Group 4.

Chief Inspector Tony Dymott, deputy chief of the operation, said: "A huge amount of detailed work has gone into planning the security operation for the Labour Party conference.

"Our planning has been driven by threat levels and we have been working closely with the security services.

"A lot of professional planning work has been carried out over the past year to put measures into place in order to combat threats and to produce contingency plans.

"Security and intelligence are constantly reviewed to ensure that policing for the conference matches the threat."

Labour last held their annual conference in Bournemouth in 1999.