Gordon Brown suffered a seismic shock to his premiership yesterday, as it was revealed that the privacy of half the UK's citizens had been compromised.  

The Prime Minister listened solemnly as his Chancellor, Alistair Darling, laid bare a bureaucratic bungle on an unprecedented scale.  

To gasps from MPs, he told how 25 million people might be affected after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) lost a copy of its entire child benefits database. He urged people to monitor bank accounts "for unusual activity".

Opposition MPs said it was a potential "betrayal of every family in the land".  

25 Million Reasons They're In Trouble