Mirror : Blame Phil Woolas ..not Bob Quick over suspected bomb plot

Blame Phil Woolas ..not Bob Quick over suspected bomb plot

By Fiona McIntosh | April 11, 2009

Anti-terror chief Bob Quick carried the can for his stupidity in showing documents outlining a suspected bomb plot. He has since apologised and resigned.

Meanwhile the alleged plot to bomb shops in Manchester this Easter weekend was successfully foiled by police. For that we should all be incredibly grateful. Surely the villain of this story is not the bungling police chief but the people responsible for letting any possible terrorists into the country in the first place.

In this case, turns out 10 of the 12 men held in police raids across North-West England were Pakistanis who were let in by the Home Office on student visas.

Only last week Immigration Minister Phil Woolas admitted that student visas were “the major loophole in Britain’s border controls”.

So why the hell wasn’t something done about this appallingly irresponsible loophole earlier? That’s where the real blame lies.