He had been active in the Israeli Labor Party, had worked in the government's press office and as a parliamentary aide in the Knesset.

Many ministers were engaged in tasks better carried out by officials, and parliamentary aides performed "few functions of real value", the report said.

After finishing his post-graduate studies, he worked for his father as a political researcher and parliamentary aide.

Between 1997 and 1999 he worked as a parliamentary aide in the Knesset, and then from 1999 until 2006 as a marketing manager at Clalit.

One of Nick Clegg's most senior parliamentary aides, Norman Lamb, went further than Cable, describing the proposals as madness.

On Sunday, a top Shiite parliamentary aide, Ali al-Dabagh, said lawmakers were moving in that direction.

He is currently a parliamentary aide to the Welsh Secretary David Jones.

In 2005 Smith married Steve Wilson, a former Sheffield City Councillor, whom she now employs as a parliamentary aide.

But within an hour, a parliamentary aide had slipped out and told the news media, and the firestorm began.

"The authorities can seize things without any proof, without any authorization," said Olga Baranikova, a parliamentary aide.