FOREIGN Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw was branded "chief troublemaker" and criticised by the British Ambassador to Chile when visiting the country as a student activist in 1966, according to secret papers released today.

Mr Straw led a National Union of Students trip to Chile which had aimed to build closer links between British and Chilean students, while he was studying law at Leeds University.

But during his six-week stay, in which he worked on building a youth centre, the young Mr Straw angered British officials in Santiago.

The Foreign Office document, released by the public record office today, details the British Ambassador's criticisms of the organisation of the visit, the delegation's behaviour and Mr Straw's attitude.

In one section of the document, the future Foreign Secretary was described as "chief troublemaker, acting with malice aforethought".

Mr Straw's visit to Chile was the subject of questions in Parliament 30 years later, when he was Home Secretary and responsible for ruling on the extradition proceedings being brought against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

He was alleged to have demonstrated against Pinochet on the streets of London following the General's 1973 coup.

Mr Straw was also alleged to have taken tea with the future Marxist leader of Chile, Salvador Allende, during the 1966 trip, but he denied these claims.

Allende was killed in the wave of violence that swept Pinochet to power.

Mr Straw was today unavailable for comment. He was out of the country.