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£25,000 a day for Met police to provide Musharraf gun guard
Peter Dominiczak11 Sep 2009
Former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf is being protected by Scotland Yard at a cost to taxpayers of around £25,000 a day.
It comes after it was revealed yesterday that the former military leader has swapped the presidential palace in Islamabad for a £1 million flat surrounded by the shisha bars and kebab joints of London's Arabic quarter.
The Metropolitan Police Specialist Protection Unit, known as SO1, has now assigned a 24-hour security team, said to be made up of at least ten men and women, to protect Musharraf at his three-bedroom flat.
Musharraf has been living in the relatively modest flat, near Tony Blair's Connaught Square mansion, for the last four months and is believed to enjoy dining at top restaurants including the Dorchester Hotel.
Although the former military leader pays for a team of retired Pakistani commandos to protect him, the decision to provide further security was taken at a meeting of the Royal and VIP Executive Committee held at the Home Office.
It is thought the decision to give Musharraf the costly protection service was taken because of fears that any attempt on his life could lead to injury for innocent civilians if he is targeted in public.
The security committee is responsible for the personal protection of the Prime Minister, former prime ministers, certain government ministers, some ambassadors and “high-profile persons considered to be under threat from terrorist attack in the UK”.
The costs are said to include the provision of a car, plus security equipment such as alarms and closed-circuit television cameras fitted to his flat.
Lord Ahmed of Rotherham has written to the Home Secretary Alan Johnson urging him to stop spending taxpayers' money on protection for Musharraf.
He said: “I think the Government needs to review Mr Musharraf's security. There are people within Britain who could do with those extra police officers rather than a man who can afford private body guards.”
Musharraf is the latest in a long line of dictators and dissidents to live in London and receive government protection.
General Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean dictator, lived in London and Surrey in 1998 when detained on an extradition charge during a stopover in London. He was given protection at the State's expense.
Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, was in exile in London from 1998 to 2007 after being ousted from office, while Nawaz Sharif, another former Pakistani Prime Minister, was in exile in London from 2006 to 2008 but it is not known whether they received security from the Met.
Earlier this year the cost of providing police protection for junior members of the Royal Family was highlighted.
It is believed the annual bill for royalty protection could be as much as £50 million a year.
Reader views (32)
if pakistan never gave there airspace the yanks and brits would have been begging someone else for it and most likely they would not have got it. long live musharaf and pakistan. keep scamming money from the west and spending it on pakistan and strengthening pakistans military from enemy attack.
- Pakistan Rule, london, 22/09/2009 17:26
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Over £9 million a year, and good old Gordon can't, or is it won't, give the troops proper gear to fight in the Afghan/Pakistan theatre
- Alan, carlisle uk, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Why is he resident here? Surely he would be much safer and feel more at home in one of those nice free and easy Islamic theocracies
- Peter, Harrow, UK, 22/09/2009 16:26
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What possible justification is there for the former head of state of another country coming to live here, of his own free choice, and receiving UK tax money for police protection.
This is utterly unacceptable. General Musharraf should pay his own bill.
- Danny, London, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Now this makes me bloody angry how dare he stay here after what he has done...he needs kicking out the country...please get this labour government out a.s.a.p
what a joke.....
- Rsaviour, lonodn england, 22/09/2009 16:26
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25k a day. Unbelievable. If they fear an attack on his life could harm the wider public, WHY THE HELL LET HIM RESIDE HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Gone to the dogs? I think even the dogs want out of this place now.
- Scott, London, 22/09/2009 16:26
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"The security committee is responsible for the personal protection of...'high-profile persons considered to be under threat from terrorist attack in the UK'”. So what's this particular "high-profile person" - described as being a "Pakistani dictator" - doing here in the first place?
Also, excuse me, but I don't WANT my tax money spent in such a way.
- Croyboy, Croydon, 22/09/2009 16:26
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sorry- why is he even in the country? he is not a British citizen- how does his visa let him stay so long? can he be deported please
- Ces, london, 22/09/2009 16:26
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So we can't afford to fund the NHS or to provide our troops with proper equipment but we can afford to do this?! In which stupid policitians' eyes did this make sense?
- Judith, Leeds, UK, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Hmm...
So for £9,125,000 a year this ex leader gets protection at taxpayers expense.
Why? And how long is this expected to last?
Without Pakistan the Taliban would have been rolled up years ago.
And we now have to pay to protect this ex-leader who failed to get his own house in order and root out the Taliban sympathisers within the ISI and other Governmental areas whilst he was president.
Unbelievable!
- Neil Stewart, Clay Cross, 22/09/2009 16:26
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It is not as though the UK is currently solvent.
WHAT A SPECTACULAR WASTE OF TAXPAYER'S CASH.
£50 MILLION pa for royalty protection? The mind boggles.
- Reuben Camara, Morecambe Compound, EUSSR, 22/09/2009 16:26
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they must think we're made of money !!!!!
- Clive, london, 22/09/2009 16:26
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What is the rationale for allowing Mr Musharraf to live here - is he on vacation? Does anyone else vacationing in this country qualify for police protection? Do these people care about what legitimate citizens think, you know the ones, struggling to pay their mortgage, paying their tax, coping with ever increasing utility bills, the ones who would be lucky to even have a visit from the police if they had a burglary?
- Patricia, LONDON, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Why on earth am I as a tax payer having to pay for the protection of a non-British ex-dictator ? He chose to live in this country presumably knowing full well that he might be a terrorist target, but I'm beggared if I understand why we are wasting money on him that could be spent on something more socially useful to British people.
If he wants to live here, fine - but he should be paying his way like the rest of us.
- Adam, Billericay, 22/09/2009 16:26
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This country manages to hit new lows by the day. The ordinary person no longer counts for very much. Surely he can afford his own private security if he can purchase a 1+million pound home.
- Sara Khan, london, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Bliar has a huge mansion - paid for by not having to spend any money for 10 years, living off of expenses and his wife's book deal - why not get him to rent the ex-Pakistan PM a room? They can then share security.
Another victory for common sense.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one, 22/09/2009 16:26
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for the guy who got rid of nawaz sharif as prime minister,placed benazir bhutto under house arrest and was behind her assasination and the guy who was in the pakistani military that overthrew benazir's dad and got him hanged he shouldn't be guarded by the british police the police should be out in the of london especially spouth london like tooting where mr ekram ali haque was murdered last week after leaving evening prayers from a tooting mosque in the offroad also the police should be protecting the public not foreign dignataries what next colonel gaadaafi or robert mugabe being protected by the police after they get overthrown one day and come to take exile in london,.......what a disgrace dr musharaf shgould take refuge in the pakistani embassy in london and work under the high commissioner to london as a noble 1st officer,the jedi of pakistan
- Haris Ali, london,england, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Personally, I’d rather we had 100 new nurses and 100 new teachers than spend £25k/day protecting someone who as far as I can see is probably not a very nice man.
Soft-touch Britain, thanks Bliar, thanks McBroon and thanks Mandelspin, great job, guys, really in touch with the common man with this one!
- St, London, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Just remind me; how many old people could be taken into care or doctors, nurses & teachers be employed for £1m per year? The crass logic of providing protection for this, very wealthy, monster escapes me.
- Mark Myword, London, 22/09/2009 16:26
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The Pakistani Government should be paying for this, why on earth is the British tax payer responsible for this, elections please!
- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London, 22/09/2009 16:26
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That is disgraceful. What is so special about this Musharaff to warrant this waste of taxpayers money.
T H Leeds
- Thomas Hayes, Leeds UK, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Who the hell is running this country ?
- Grim Reaper, Hell, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Pervez Musharraf took a brave an momentus decision after 9/11 to ally his country with the west despite huge pressure not to in his country. The Pakistani army has lost thousands of soldiers fighting Al Qaida and Taliban militants. In light of this I think that the security the British govt is providing is in recognition of the years of efforts that Musharraf made in support of the UK and the west.
- Adam Zogby, Bristol, UK, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Unbelievable! Let Pakistan pay for him, why the hell should the british public pay. And, if he is not a citizen of this country, could the government please explain why he is here at all? So much for tightening up on immigration. I tell you, they are all in it together - world politicians and our great leader McBrown!
- Maya - London, London, 22/09/2009 16:26
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this is just the tip of the iceberg..
- Ade, London, 22/09/2009 16:26
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If he wants the security then he should pay for it with all the money he has accumulated as a dictator. Are you telling me he has no money to foot the bill. If you are a pensioner you have to use up your own hard earned money first before the state helps but if you are a foreign dictator with a lot of money, you can come to the UK and get 24/7 security protection of GBP25k per day without having to pay a penny.
- Frank, Copenhagen, Denmark, 22/09/2009 16:26
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You couldn't make it up
It gets worse every day with this goverment
- Mario Kempe, london, 22/09/2009 16:26
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No, No, No ! I will not pay for this.
If the man chooses to live somewhere he can pay for his own protection, clearly he can afford it.
Presumably, he is living in England rather than London, this is a national expense and the country cannot afford it. If the Americans want him here, they can pay 'We', the English citizens should not be denied any improvement in London living because a non-EU citizen is languishing in our midst spending Londoners council tax.
Apart from the money he is encouraging the proliferation of guns on London streets ( using his own commandos ?) and diverting the police from more important duties such as containing the many gun and knife murderers marauding about London
- Derek, London, 22/09/2009 16:26
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How can this possibly cost 25,000 pounds a day? 10 police, say 50,000 a year each, 500,000/365 equates to 1,370 a day, car and driver, lets say 75,000 pounds a year, thats another 205 pounds a day. Add in another 10,000 for CCTV and alarms, 27 pounds a day. You have a total of 1,602 pounds a day. A lot of expense padding to get you to 25,000 pounds, only 23,398 a day or 8.5million left to explain.
- Mike, Torquay, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Looks like there's rust in the barrel of officer's weapon. If he was in the Army he'd be on a charge.
- Jason, London, 22/09/2009 16:26
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I think as the story mentions, he is already paying his Pakistan commando's for his security, but our govt surely had bigger plans. It's not Musharraf's fault, he is doing what a sensible person would. Lets remind ourselves, that if it weren't for this man, our boys in Afghaniostan would have died of hunger, lack of even more equipments etc... He was the main reason of supply that Pakistan has offered our troops in Afghanistan (something which is costing Pakistan around $30,000-$45,000 per day).
He has done a lot for this country and maybe that is why our govt thought it was a good idea to pay him back by providing him extra security.
And finally, diplomats & ex-leaders DO NOT require any Visa to stay in a country. Their resignations or handing power to others comes with many deals, and it could be that coming & staying in the UK after his resignation/ stepping down was part of the deal.
- Andrew Hays, London, 22/09/2009 16:26
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Great Britain... a land where the pensioners have to decide between heat or food and wealthy ex-presidents from other countries will receive £25K per day for additional protection...
Calgon, please take me away...
- Scrappy-Doo, London, 22/09/2009 16:26
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