Robert Carr narrowly escaped injury in the explosion

England have

Two bombs have exploded at the Hertfordshire home of Employment Secretary Robert Carr causing serious damage.

The first device went off soon after 2200, near the kitchen of the house in Barnet, where moments earlier Mr Carr's wife Joan had been preparing some drinks.

The second went off a few minutes later. A policeman answering an emergency call after the first explosion was blown off his feet as he hurried towards the house.

The explosions blew out windows and extensively damaged the ground floor of the house.

Mr Carr, his wife and their youngest daughter, Virginia, 13, left the house after the first explosion and took cover in a neighbour's home. No-one was hurt.

The blasts came after a day of protest against the new industrial relations bill.

Mr Carr described what happened: "I had just opened my dispatch box to do my evening's work and there was this loud explosion.

"The windows in the room we were in weren't blown in, but it was obvious we could hear other windows blown in and when we looked out into the hall, the front door had been blown open."

He said it was too soon to say who had planted the bomb and refused to be drawn¹ on whether the attack could have anything to do with the industrial relations bill.

Mr Carr added: "I think it would be wrong to associate this with anything at the moment.

"The police are investigating and until they've investigated it would really be very foolish and wrong to suggest anything at all."

Mr Carr has been the chief negotiator with the unions over the industrial relations bill, which passed its second reading in the Commons on 15 December.

The government hopes to reduce industrial disruption by introducing the idea of strike ballots² and a cooling off period before any action is taken. There are also proposals aimed at limiting the practice of closed shop agreements.

Labour and the unions claim the proposals are too restrictive andinfringeworkers' freedoms.

Anna Climbie moved to Europe in 1998 for a better life

The Home Office pathologist who examined her body declared it was the worst case of child abuse he had ever encountered.

The girl's aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, and her boyfriend Carl Manning were sentenced to life imprisonment⁴.

Judge Richard Hawkins described their treatment of Anna Climbie as "truly unimaginable".

Manning denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter and child cruelty. Kouao claimed that the girl's death was due to witchcraft⁵ and denied all charges.

Anna's parents entrusted⁶ their daughter to her aunt in 1998. They sent her away from her home in the Ivory Coast in the hope she would have a better life in Europe.

The Judge told the court that Anna had left for France a "lovely child, full of hope and love", but had become an "inconvenience" to Kouao and her boyfriend.

The murder investigation⁷ and trial revealed a series of failings by the police, two hospitals and three local authorities to protect Anna.

The Director of Social Services for Haringey Council, Anne Bristow acknowledged that the first warnings of abuse were evident eight months before Anna's death.

"We should have acted to protect this child and accept responsibility for our failure," she said.

The Health Secretary, Alan Milburn, has ordered a statutory inquiry⁸. The case has also been referred to the Police Complaints Authority.

infringe: to break; to violate; to transgress; to neglect to fulfill or obey（侵犯；破坏）