Police were asked last night to start a criminal inquiry into leaks that, according to Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist chief, compromised a major investigation.

The Liberal Democrats approached West Midlands Police to ask them to investigate an alleged breach of the Official Secrets Act when advance details of antiterrorism raids in Birmingham were passed to journalists.

A spokesman for the force confirmed that it had received a letter from the Lib Dems and was considering its response.

Nick Clegg, the party’s home affairs spokesman, said that he was also writing to the Association of Chief Police Officers to see if any investigation was best conducted by a force unconnected with the Birmingham raids.

Nine men were detained in the raids, in January. Three were released without charge and the other six are awaiting trial on terrorist offences.

Officers at Scotland Yard and West Midlands are furious about two aspects of the disclosures, which they believe hindered the operation and strained community relations.

Their first area of concern is that a number of London-based media organisations were told the night before they happened that significant raids and arrests would take place in Birmingham. This angered the police because the timing of arrests is categorised as a sensitive operational decision.

Secondly, within a few hours of the early morning arrests, several media outlets reported that some of the suspects were to be questioned about an alleged plot to kidnap and behead a British serviceman. The information was made public before detectives had a chance to question any of the men and therefore disrupted their planned interview strategy.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said on Tuesday night that the people who leaked the information ought to be thoroughly ashamed. Mr Clarke, the head of Counter-Terrorism Command, said he that did not know who had leaked the details but appeared to point the finger at Westminster rather than the police or intelligence sources. He said that the leakers might have been trying to curry favour with journalists or “squeeze out some short-term presentational advantage”.

Mr Clarke added: “The people who do this either do not know or do not care what damage they do. If they do know, then they are beneath contempt. If they do not know, then let me tell them. They compromise investigations. They reveal sources of life-saving intelligence. In the worst cases they put lives at risk.”

David Cameron called on the Prime Minister to set up an inquiry into Mr Clarke’s comments and asked for a guarantee that the leaks had not come from ministers or government spin-doctors. Tony Blair accused the Conservative leader of smear tactics and said that he condemned leaking. He refused to establish an inquiry on the basis of Mr Cameron’s allegations.

At the same time David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, wrote to Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, calling for an inquiry into Mr Clarke’s allegations.

John Reid, the Home Secretary, gave warning against scaremongering yesterday over the terrorist threat facing Britain but then highlighted the “devastating consequences” of a potential al-Qaeda attack on financial markets and energy supplies. He said that al-Qaeda’s call for attacks on the West’s energy supplies would cause “incalculable damage”.

Mr Reid added that a terrorist assault on vital electronic systems would have “potential devastating” consequences for the country and its way of life.

The Home Secretary told a conference organised by the Royal United Services Institute in London that scaring people would not produce security.

He then said: “I don’t need to remind you of al-Qaeda’s declared aim to ‘bleed us to bankruptcy’ and I don’t need to remind you of their call for attacks on the West’s energy supplies which would have enormous, incalculable damage if they were able to be achieved.

“It is easy to appreciate the devastation of a physical attack and what it can bring but we must not underestimate the potentially devastating consequences of an electronic attack.”

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