The Queen now spends an extra £150,000 a year on security vetting procedures for staffsince a journalist got a job as a footman at Buckingham Palace.
In November 2003 the Mirror revealed reporter Ryan Parry had been working at the Palace for two months and had gained access to most of the Palace, including the Queen’s bedroom. The scoop secured trainee Parry a staff job at the paper and also bagged the British Press Awards Scoop of the Year prize as well as the Hugh Cudlipp award for outstanding tabloid journalism.
The new vetting system has caught two other reporters since trying to get jobs in the palace since Parry.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “There is a department which has been created specifically to help with the vetting of personnel that are applying for positions in Buckingham Palace.”
A Daily Mirror spokesman said: “Our undercover operation highlighted lapses in the security system used at Buckingham Palace and they were grateful to us for exposing the flaw. Our work enabled them to revise their approach and plug the gaps that existed.”
Picture credit: Reuters.
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