The quality papers have focused on the future of chancellor Alistair Darling, and Brown's role in merging the two tax departments while shedding jobs, as the focus of their ire following HMRC's loss of 25 million individuals' details yesterday.

This morning's editorial columns in the British national press said the chancellor was hanging onto his job by a thread, after residing over the data loss disaster and the near-collapse of Northern Rock.

'We don't doubt he will hang onto his job while this mess is cleared up – but his days must surely be numbered,' said The Daily Telegraph.

If he wants to remain chancellor, he will need to show some initiative, said The Guardian.

They also highlighted prime minister Gordon Brown's role in pushing together the Inland Revenue with HM Customs & Excise, and described the ensuing efficiency drive that will see the super-department 25,000 jobs lighter by 2012 as a 'costly distraction'.

'It was Mr Brown who ordered the amalgamation… in a cost-cutting operation that has created a culture in which an official can pop ultra-sensitive personal data on half the population into the post without even recording or registering the package,' said The Daily Telegraph.

'A report by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales paints a damning picture of a floundering agency whose disorganisation, lack of clarity and poor accountability would inflict “irreparable damage” on any normal commercial body. It says the dual targets of cutting costs and increasing efficiency are incompatible, with large job cuts leaving the HMRC reliant on untrained staff. It is little wonder that security breaches occurred,' said The Times.

'It its not Mr Darling who stretched Revenue & Customs to breaking point: it was Gordon Brown… He began the swingeing cutbacks for this new super-department,' said The Guardian.

'A clash of cultures had been feared,' said the FT.

The papers spoke of HMRC chairman Paul Gray taking the honourable decision to step down, and that the data loss would likely prove to be a major setback against the government's proposed identity card scheme.

Perhaps the most damning was The Independent, which said: 'To mislay half the population's personal details - even if the information is never misused - speaks of the grossest mismanagement. Even if it is not directly the Government's fault, this is an episode that will be immortalised in our political folklore, entertaining a generation in the retelling.'

Further reading:

Hartnett takes top job at HMRC

Chancellor admits HMRC lost 25 million people's data

Paul Gray's resignation letter to HMRC staff in full