Pervez Musharraf, the former President of Pakistan who is living in London, is being protected by Scotland Yard at a cost to taxpayers of approximately £25,000 a day.

The Metropolitan Police Specialist Protection Unit, known as SO1, has assigned a round-the-clock team of at least ten men and women to protect Mr Musharraf, who lives in a three-bedroom flat in West London.

Mr Musharraf has been using it as his base for about four months and is said to enjoy dining at the Dorchester Hotel and playing golf. Although he pays for a small 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.

Those present would have included a representative from the Metropolitan Police, the Army, a private secretary to the Queen, heads of security for Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, as well as members of the intelligence services and civil servants representing the Home Office and Cabinet Office. The unit 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 thought to include the provision of a car, plus security equipment such as alarms and closed-circuit television cameras fitted to his flat. SO1 is providing the security detail.

The worry for Scotland Yard is that any attempt on Mr Musharraf’s life could lead to injury for innocent civilians if he is targeted in public.

Lord Ahmed of Rotherham has written to the Home Secretary Alan Johnson urging him to stop spending taxpayers’ money on protection by Scotland Yard for Mr Musharraf. He also tabled a parliamentary question about the cost of Mr Musharraf’s protection.

“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,” he said.

Over the years Britain has been home to dissidents, dictators and princes, many of whom have had protection provided by the Government. 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.

When Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian former spy, was murdered after radioactive polonium-210 was put into his tea in 2006 the Met police decided that Boris Berezovsky, the London-based Russian oligarch, needed extra protection — even though he already paid for his own security.

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. It is not known whether they received security from the Met. Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, lived in London from 2006 to 2008 after a coup in his home country.

When discussing the current security requirements of individuals’ Ravec’s focus is usually on ex-ministers and minor members of the Royal Family. It will start with the Queen and work its way down the long list, which can take several hours. Earlier this year the cost of providing police protection for junior members of the Royal Family was highlighted.

It is believed that some senior officers at Scotland Yard have expressed concern over the expanding bill for royalty protection, which is estimated to have reached as much as £50 million a year.

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