One of Tony Blair's top security advisers warned yesterday that Britain could face a flu pandemic in the next few years.

Bill Jeffrey, the prime minister's security and intelligence coordinator, who rarely speaks in public, also warned of a lower threat of water and gas shortages.

But Mr Jeffrey made clear that, apart from terrorism, a flu pandemic was the most serious potential threat preoccupying Whitehall emergency planners.

He was speaking about UK Resilience, the government's civil contingency agency, at a conference of the Royal United Services Institute in London.