Jeremy Hunt: 'completely normal' for contractor to fail to deliver On Thursday, Mrs May told the House of Commons that the shortfall in the number of guards G4S would be able to provide to police the Games had "crystallised" only the day before. Appearing on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Mr Hunt said that ministers had been assured until recently that G4S was "on track," but continued to maintain contingency planning involving the military in case problems emerged. He added: "We of course have been monitoring the situation at G4S and their management had told us right up to last week that everything was all right. At the moment that we were told that they weren't going to be able to manage we activated that plan. I don't think this is a moment for getting into the blame game. G4S have been quite honourable. It is completely normal that you are going to find some contractors on a project of this size who are not going to be able to deliver. Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader, told Sky: "That won't wash. Security is a government responsibility. I think they have been dangerously incompetent on this and I hope that they are going to sort themselves out now before the Games. She called for troops who have been called up to provide security at the Games to be given a bonus of at least the £500 offered to bus drivers working during the Olympics, adding that the money should be paid for by G4S, and not the public purse. The G4S bid for the security contract is reported to have been 25 per cent lower than its nearest rival. The company's chief executive, Nick Buckles, has now apologised to troops who have been drafted in to fill the gaps in Olympic security, many of whom have recently returned from Afghanistan or have had their leave postponed. He disclosed that G4S faced a penalty of up to £20 million for failing to deliver on its £284 million contract, and will have to pay another £30 million to the Ministry of Defence to cover the costs of providing the extra troops. Meanwhile, it has emerged that former Heathrow security officials have warned that terror suspects are entering the UK ahead of the Olympics because inexperienced border staff are failing to carry out the proper security checks. A senior border official told the Observer that new staff recruited to deal with lengthy queues in the arrivals hall at Heathrow were "missing" passengers on the Home Office watch list who ought to be referred to counter-terrorism officials. The official said: "The missing of counter-terrorism 'hits' is a huge thing, but new recruits are not getting enough time to be taught. Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, rejected Mrs Harman's bonus suggestion, saying: "People in the Armed Forces are not London bus drivers. People who join it [the military] expect to be asked to do at short notice tasks that they do not envisage doing. He told Sky that his main priority was to make sure that the troops were comfortable in their temporary accommodation at the Games, and had things to do during their time off. Defending the Government's monitoring of G4S, he said that providing the security contract was "always challenging." The Olympics is an incredibly complex project. We have been monitoring regularly all aspects of the project," Mr Hammond added. The security required to make the Olympics safe and secure will be in place. There was always going to be a very significant Armed Forces component, it will now be a bit larger than we originally envisaged it being.