Reports say that a file has been handed in showing security plans for the forthcoming Labour conference. How secure is our security and why was the filed passed to the press and not the police?

The fact that it was handed to the press indicates to me that someone obtained the information and was trying to demonstrate a point. I've always had this view - with terrorism at the level it is now security is not high enough. All you have to do is have friends in the right places and you can get around it. All you have to do to make those friends is have money to spare...

Instant personal gratification is probably behind this.

The "Celebrity" culture, fame and money. The person who found this would be thinking that there is more for him to be gained by going to the press than anything else.

Sad but true.

He doesn't cares about the security of the Labour party as that will not get him a "finders fee" from the press, pictures in the paper and the shock value of "What are our security forces up to?"

The file was probably left deliberately...politics and all that.

No doubt heads will roll and we will hear the usual "must ensure that it doesn't happen again" trotted out by the bods on TV.

Yes we publicise too much information (See Freedom of Information Act) and it is damaging.

But hey...we voted for it...didn't we?

the person who found it was either looking for it, or just stumbled upon it - either way, they were obviously motivated my financial gain, because they know that exposes (that should have an accent on the last e) in the paper mean money for the person who provides the information.

personally, i would have handed it in to the police.

our security is almost always never secure enough - FFJ found ways to get batman and superman up and around secure buildings, and also to throw purple dust dombs at the PM - even though there were no leaked reports in those cases, they managed to get in and do what they thought thay had to.

i daresay that there is a "plan b" and no-one would be stupid enough to put all the plans into one report (oh please) so they'd go with "plan b" and keep an extra eye out.

there are people within the government who quite happily leak information out, some because they feel some sort of vindication, maybe; others again, for financial gain.

responsible members of the public would have handed it in to their nearest police station, rather than their nearest newspaper office. but if it was purposefully leaked, then the government needs to get a plumber in.