News that the defence budget will be cut by 8% and that morethan 490,000 public jobs will be lost have been revealed as both the Prime Minister and his chief secretary to the Treasury were photographed with the spending review report that is set to be unveiled tomorrow.

Getty Images' photographer Oli Scarff was able to photograph Alexander as he was reading two pages of the report, while David Cameron was photographed with the first page of the defence statement he is expected to make in the House of Commons.

It's not the first time that members of government have been photographed with sensitive information. In May 2008, photographers caught former housing minister Caroline Flint with sensitive documents in front of Downing Street. Her notes warned that the property market would continue to decline by more than 10%.

In early April 2009, Bob Quick, Britain's most senior counterterrorism officer, was photographed with sensitive documents in front of Downing Street The April incident forced. The officer was carrying information about an investigation against a ring of alleged Al-Qaeda members residing in the UK. The information was clearly visible to press photographers who used telephoto lenses to zoom in on the documents. The classified papers revealed how many alleged terrorists would be arrested and in which cities.

And only two weeks later, Hazel Blears, secretary of state for communities and local government, was seen exiting a cabinet meeting at No 10 with the briefing notes in full view of photographers. The documents reveal that the government plans to scrap the second home allowance for Members of Parliament.