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Wed 11 Nov 2007British minister accused of cover-up in security scandalBRITAIN:Britain's home secretary has defended her decision not to disclose that some 5,000 illegal immigrants were cleared to work in security jobs amid Conservative charges of "blunder, panic and cover-up" at the home office.In a statement to MPs yesterday Jacqui Smith insisted her priority had been to establish the scale of the problem and ensure "robust action" was taken rather than to place "incomplete and potentially misleading information" in the public domain when told of the problem in July.