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07/11/2005:
"Downing Street rejects Howard call for inquiry"
Downing Street has rejected a call by Michael Howard yesterday for a full inquiry into possible security failures before the London bombings.In a television interview, the Conservative leader said: "Let's look again at our arrangements, let's have an inquiry into what happened and whether anything more could have been done."
Tony Blair will today make his first statement to parliament since the attacks, focusing on the hunt for the terrorists, the continuing search for bodies and the arrangements being led by the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, to provide advice and help for bereaved families.
In a separate development, the Guardian has learned that MI5 is to conduct an internal investigation into the bombings to try to establish how the terrorists avoided detection.
Security and intelligence officials said yesterday they had "absolutely nothing to hide" and described MI5, the domestic security service, as a "self-critical organisation".
They added: "[MI5] wants to find out how this got through".
Full: guardian.co.uk