John Reid: We must stay vigilant

Former home secretary John Reid last night insisted that the alerts served as a warning against reducing security measures at British airports.

He said: "This incident is a cautionary tale for those who want to reduce essential security measures. The government should study such calls and blandishments very seriously indeed before they remove what were regarded, and are still regarded, as essential counter-terrorist measures."

The commercial interests of airlines were important, he said, but the primary job of government was to protect citizens.

"This is why these measures were introduced," Mr Reid added. "And today's incident serves to reinforce the fact that we still live in a very dangerous world, and one which may become even more dangerous as we approach the Olympics in the UK."

Airport security measures may be inconvenient to passengers, but were nothing compared with the "tragic consequences of loss of life" caused by a terrorist attack, he said.

This week, British Airways Martin Broughton said the time was right to relax airport security in order to make air travel more convenient for passengers.

He accused the British government of "kowtowing" to the Americans by insisting on such high levels of airport security.