£25,000 a day for Met police to provide Musharraf gun guard

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.