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Computer from office of minister stolen

A computer was stolen from the office of a British cabinet minister in a break-in, an aide said, in the second serious security breach involving a senior government official in a week.

  • Reuters, AP
  • Published: 23:53 June 17, 2008
  • Gulf News

London: A computer was stolen from the office of a British cabinet minister in a break-in, an aide said on Tuesday, in the second serious security breach involving a senior government official in a week.

An aide at the Manchester constituency office for Hazel Blears, the cabinet secretary for the Department of Communities and Local Government, said the computer was the only item taken in the weekend burglary.

"The window was smashed. Just the computer was taken," she told Reuters.

Britain's BBC television said the computer contained restricted government documents, including some on defence and extremism, but none believed to be top secret.

Like all members of parliament, British cabinet ministers maintain offices in the local constituencies that elect them to the House of Commons.

A spokeswoman for the Communities Department was not immediately available for comment.

Greater Manchester Police were not immediately available to comment on the break-in.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman Michael Ellam says a Cabinet minister's computer has been stolen from her office in a new data mishap.

Ellam says Brown told ministers to take more care with data at yesterday's Cabinet meeting.

Two sets of confidential documents have been left on trains by security officials in the last week. One set of papers included secret briefings on Iraq and Al Qaida.

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