Security 'failed' murdered diplomat

Heather Saunders will meet the Greek Prime Minister

MPs have strongly criticised the Foreign Office following the terrorist murder of a British diplomat in Athens.

The cross-party Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said the FCO had failed to improve security at the embassy in Greece despite heightened tensions after the Kosovo crisis.

Athens is well-known as a high-risk post

Foreign Affairs Committee

It was "deeply disquieting" that the danger to staff in Athens had been classified as "broadly compatible" with other European Nato states, said the committee in a report.

Later the Foreign Office rejected charges that it had been complacent in its security arrangements for staff.

The criticism follows the assassination of British military attaché Brigadier Stephen Saunders in June.

Brig Saunders' widow, Heather, will meet the Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis in Athens on Monday, where she hopes to encourage people to assist the authorities with their inquiries into his murder.

The chair of the committee, Labour MP Donald Anderson, told the BBC security arrangements had suffered from complacency and he found it "incredible" that stricter precautions had not been put in place.

'Soft target'

Mr Anderson said: "There was in the autumn of last year an assessment that the risk was only moderate.

"In March of this year a security adviser used an odd phrase - that the threat to our diplomatic personal was comparable to those of other Nato European partners."

He highlighted the opposition felt by some in Greece to Nato's bombing of Serbia and added: "The US had turned their embassy into a fortress, effectively.

"Because of our close links with the US in Kosovo we were next in line as a soft target.

"We found it incredible given the history that there was not greater priority given to the protection of our diplomatic personnel."

Brigadier Saunders was shot four times

The Foreign Office acknowledged in a memorandum to the committee that it had known the November 17 terror group, which might previously have attacked US targets, was liable to seek "softer" targets because of increased American security levels.

'Money must be found'

The Swansea East MP then urged the Treasury to make more money available to the Foreign Office in the comprehensive spending review, due later in July, to improve security.

The US was planning to spend $11.4bn (£7.6 bn) world-wide over the next 10 years upgrading its security.

In contrast, the Foreign Office had been allocated just £11.8m by the Treasury for the next three years.

In its report the committee recommended that the Foreign Office urgently review the level of protection afforded to staff overseas and said no security precaution should be foregone for reasons of cost.

The committee also had harsh words for the way the Foreign Office was run.

Safety a priority

In its statement the Foreign Office said staff safety was a top priority, and added that a review of safety at the Athens embassy was underway.

The statement said: "We share the committee's concern but we reject the charge of complacency."

"The level of security at the Athens Embassy reflected the latest assessment of the threat to staff.

"There was no evidence that British diplomats were likely to be targets."