THE Government yesterday called for a new director of security to be appointed at Westminster.

Commons leader Peter Hain said parliamentary authorities in charge were living in a bygone age and said existing procedures were antiquated.

His comments came 24 hours after five hunting supporters shoved their way past uniformed doorkeepers to confront MPs in the Commons chamber, with three others being intercepted as they tried to join them.

All eight were still being held by police last night.

They include Otis Ferry, the 21-year-old son of Washington-born rock star Bryan Ferry, England polo player Luke Tomlinson, 26, a friend of the royals, and point-to-point jockey Richard Wakeham, of York.

Police confirmed the men were arrested on suspicion of uttering a forged instrument, burglary with intent to commit criminal damage and violent disorder.

Police were last night granted an extra 12 hours to question the eight. Detectives have until early today to question them before they have to apply to magistrates for a further extension to the custody time limit.

Controversy over Commons security intensified when a Liberal Democrat MP revealed one of his constituents alerted police three times to the presence of a disguised hunt supporter within the security cordon around Westminster.

Hereford MP Paul Keetch said police might have been able to prevent the protest if they had acted.

The hunt supporter was one of those who later ran into the chamber.

Mr Keetch told the ITV News Channel: "I had a group of business people from my constituency out to a lunch meeting at the House of Commons, and as one of them was leaving, shortly before 4pm, he recognised a well-known hunt supporter from Herefordshire who, although outside the building of the House of Commons, was inside the security cordon that the police had established.

"This man was carrying a builder's hat and he indicated to my constituent not to say anything by putting his finger to his lip.

"My constituent was concerned about this, he told a police officer on duty immediately -he did not seem particularly interested.

"He then told a police inspector, who said he would look into it in a few minutes.

"And then he eventually had to dial 999. We now know that this person that he saw is one of the people who is now being held by the police.

"It is quite clear that had the police possibly acted more quickly on the information that my constituent gave them, it might well be that the incident that occurred yesterday could have been averted."

Mr Hain and MPs were blocked yesterday from discussing Wednesday's incident by Speaker Michael Martin, who said he did not want security issues to be aired on the floor of the House.

Instead, Mr Martin said Parliament's Joint Security Committee and the House of Commons Commission will investigate the affair next month.

Downing Street spoke of the need for urgency, and Mr Hain released a statement saying: "We have had three stark breaches of security -Greenpeace climbing Big Ben, Fathers 4 Justice throwing a flour bomb in the chamber in May and yesterday's hunters invading the chamber for the first time since the 17th Century.

"On each occasion, investigations were conducted and new procedures put in place.

"But the blunt truth is that the House of Commons is operating as if in a bygone age.

"This is the age of the suicide terrorist and our security arrangements are antiquated."

At present, Sir Michael Cummins is in day-to-day charge of security, and Metropolitan Police officers act under his authority, according to a contract.

The Met Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, questioned that arrangement yesterday and said the incident appeared to be an "inside job".

He did not rule out the suggestion of a private security expert being put in charge, providing that person had the right skills and knowledge.

He said: "Obviously there will have to be extra security. There has been a breach and things have been found to be wrong."

Sir John said all eight protestors were dressed in suits and some had worn tabards and hard hats, and carried clipboards.

They had used a forged letter from two MPs inviting them to a site meeting to gain entrance to Parliament.

Sir John said: "We have some reasons to believe there was an inside job in terms of how they got into the Palace of Westminster and how they got on to the floor of the Commons itself."