Browne under fire after media ban

As the first personal accounts from sailors held in Iran for 13 days appeared in the media, Mr Browne conceded the decision to let them speak out had not been a success. He insisted it had been a "very tough call" for the Navy but everyone involved accepted it had "not reached a satisfactory outcome" and lessons must be learned from the review.

But opposition politicians accused him of acting too late and said the Ministry of Defence had acted "appallingly" in putting its sailors "up for auction".

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said: "The whole situation relating to the captive servicemen coming home has been handled appallingly.

"The Ministry of Defence have managed to lose public sympathy for our sailors and marines, cause division within the ranks of the armed forces and serving members of the armed forces have, in effect, been put up for auction in the most horribly undignified fashion, something that has not gone unnoticed overseas. We will want to know who made these decisions, at what stage and why."

Mr Browne - who had been made aware of the earlier decision - announced the ban in his first intervention in the major row. It came after a further day of criticism from politicians, military figures, relatives of killed and injured personnel and even one former tabloid editor. They claimed the individuals were being used as pawns in a propaganda war and warned the move could set a highly dangerous precedent.

In a statement issued by the MoD, Mr Browne said he recognised the dilemma faced by Navy chiefs in the face of a media hungry to hear the stories of the individuals.

It was "inevitable" someone would have accepted the payments on offer, he suggested, potentially putting both them and operational safety at risk. So the Navy decided to allow the payments and retain the ability to be involved in the process and offer support to its personnel, he said.

"Many strong views on this have been expressed but I hope people will understand that this was a very tough call, and that the Navy had a duty to support its people. Nevertheless, all of us who have been involved over the last few days recognise we have not reached a satisfactory outcome. We must learn from this."

He said the review - announced by the Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Adrian Johns - would look at "the consistency of the regulations across the services, their clarity and, more broadly, whether the regulations are right for the modern media environment".