Go-ahead for airport body scanners

The controversial technology is expected to be introduced at Heathrow and other hubs within weeks after the Prime Minister said it was "essential" to tackle a new terrorist threat.

They will initially operate alongside metal detectors, and be used for all flights in and out of Britain. But Mr Brown insisted the inconvenience to travellers would be kept to a minimum.

The announcement came as a row erupted over the Government's response to the failed Detroit airliner plot, with the Tories accusing the premier of "playing politics" with public safety.

Downing Street issued a statement yesterday morning suggesting that since the abortive attack on Christmas Day Mr Brown and US President Barack Obama had personally agreed joint funding for a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen.

But Mr Brown was quickly forced to admit in an interview that he had not spoken directly to Mr Obama, and the plans had already been in place before the incident.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling accused Number 10 of "exaggeration and spin".

"There will be a lot of politicking in the run-up to the election, but for a Prime Minister to play politics with the issue of terrorism is a disgrace," he added.

In a wide-ranging interview on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Brown revealed that the decision had been taken to deploy the full-body scanners – which cost around 100,000 each and see through passengers' clothes.

Mr Brown accepted there was no way to be certain that the devices would be "100 per cent" effective.

But he added: "We have found that there is a new form of explosive that is not being identified by ordinary machines. We have got to go further. Our first duty is to the security of the people of this country."

The Premier said he hoped the new arrangements would not cause too much delay for passengers.

"I hope we will find a way of doing this in a more sophisticated way. It will be introduced gradually."

The Government is due to give more details of the new security measures today.

Alongside body scanners, airports are expected to bring in more sniffer dogs and increase their use of passenger profiling.

Hand-luggage is also expected to be swabbed for traces of explosive, and passengers could be re-searched just before boarding.

A spokesman for airport operator BAA said: "Now that the Government has given the go-ahead, we will introduce full-body scanners as soon as practical.

"It is our view that a combination of technology, intelligence and passenger profiling will help build a more robust defence against the unpredictable and changing nature of the terrorist threat to aviation."

However, Mr Brown insisted that preventing terrorists from carrying out attacks was not enough. "We have also got to get back to the source of this and that is Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan," he said.

"We have got to recognise that we have got a group of young people who have been radicalised as a result of teaching by extreme clerics. And we have got to recognise that we are fighting a battle for hearts and minds as much as anything else."

Both the US and the UK embassies in Yemen were closed yesterday in response to the "ongoing threat" from al-Qaida.

Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is said to have told FBI agents that he was radicalised and trained in the country within the last six months, before attempting to blow up the plane on Christmas Day.

The growing threat of extremism in Yemen is due to be discussed at a summit of world leaders in London later this month.

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