Smash hit

Although Mr Evans made no specific reference to this controversial political issue, he said: “The terrorists may be indiscrimate in their violence against us, but we should not be so in our response to them.”

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, seized on Mr Evans’s speech to highlight the need to be cautious about any extended counter-terrorist powers.

“In order to tackle the root causes of extremism he [Mr Evans] identifies, we must do two things. First, ban those groups fuelling hatred and violence against this country; second, as Mr Evans warns in clear terms, we must avoid an indiscriminate response that would drive young Muslims into the arms of fanatics and destroy the trust of local communities,” Mr Davis said.

Mr Evans said that al-Qaeda’s campaign against Britain was now being orchestrated not just from Pakistan but from several other countries around the world. He identified Somalia, Iraq and Algeria.

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Hidden among clothing were goods selected and purchased to support the activities of terrorists, a court was told

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He added: “There is no doubt that al-Qaeda in Iraq aspires to promote terrorist attacks outside Iraq.”

There was also “training activity and terrorist planning” in East Africa, particularly Somalia – “which is focused on the UK”. The so-called al-Qaeda “franchise” had also spread to Algeria.

Since the attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, there had also been a number of examples of “serious al-Qaeda-related terrorist activity” in Europe; and in the past 12 months there had been an increase in the planning of attacks in European countries, including in Germany, Denmark and Austria.

He said there had been more than 200 terrorist convictions in Britain alone since 9/11.

Mr Evans admitted his “disappointment” that with such threats facing Britain, he was still having to divert “significant amounts of equipment, money and staff” to dealing with espionage operations run by the Russians and Chinese.

“They are resources which I would far rather devote to countering the threat from international terrorism,” he said.

The Russians and Chinese in particular, he said, were increasingly using sophisticated technical means to spy on Britain, “using the internet to penetrate computer networks”.

However, with an increase in funding provided in the latest Comprehensive Spending Review, Mr Evans disclosed that he now planned to boost MI5’s staffing levels to 4,000 by 2011. Under previous plans announced by Dame Eliza, MI5’s manpower was in the process of being increased to 3,500 by next year.

Mr Evans said that with eight regional MI5 offices now set up, 25 per cent of the staff would be working outside the London headquarters at Thames House, in Millbank, by 2011.

He said that recruiting was going well, but he was concerned about a drop in the number of women applying to join MI5.

“This is a paradox, considering that two of the last three directors-generals were women [Dame Eliza and, before her, Dame Stella Rimington], so we are now exploring ways to remedy this,” he said.

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