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Jack Straw would have considered a Tory MP's "shameful" bid to prove refugees' ages by X-raying their teeth.
The former Labour Home Secretary went against the tide of condemnation yesterday of the idea by David Davies.
Monmouth MP Mr Davies called for the tests after pundits questioned the age of children who arrived from Calais' squalid Jungle camp this week to join their families.
The British Dental Association (BDA) said tooth checks were unreliable and unethical - and the Home Office dismissed the idea.
But the former Labour Home Secretary said: "Officials made a judgment, we have to accept that judgment, but if there is a case for dental checks, I would certainly not as home secretary have ruled that out.
Reuters
"If it turns out those coming in here are over 18 - and the truth will emerge after a while - then it will undermine public confidence in the whole system.
"So having tests, providing they are not too intrusive and invasive, is actually a sensible thing to do for everyone concerned."
He added: "Most of them are economic migrants and you have to be pretty firm about this."
A BDA spokesman said it was "vigorously opposed" to dental X-rays on asylum seekers , adding: "It's not only an inaccurate method for assessing age, but it is both inappropriate and unethical to take radiographs of people when there is no health benefit for them.
Reuters
"X-rays taken for a clinically-justified reason must not be used for another purpose without the patient's informed consent, without coercion and in full knowledge of how the radiograph will be used and by whom."
A Home Office spokesman said there was already a testing process, adding: "We do not use dental x-rays to confirm the ages of those seeking asylum in the UK.
"The British Dental Association has described them as inaccurate, inappropriate and unethical."
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said the call was "part of a shameful attempt to smear refugees instead of welcoming them as they rebuild their lives in Britain."
"There are age checks in place that do not require the Government to treat human beings like cattle," he said. "David Davies should hang his head in shame."
ITV
SNP MP Neil Gray said the "disgraceful xenophobic rhetoric" was "fuelling the type of xenophobic attacks that we have seen across the country since the Brexit vote".
Ruth Allen, chief executive of the British Association of Social Workers, said Mr Davies' campaign missed the "real issue" - that hundreds of children who'd been through "trauma, torture and abuse" were in desperate need.
And Green party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said: "These comments are nothing short of a disgrace."
Jim Bennett Photographer
Home Office figures show 933 asylum applicants faced an age assessment last year after their claims to be children were doubted.
Officials decided 636 of them - 68 per cent - were over 18.
From January 2006 to June 2016, 11,847 applicants were assessed for their age and 5,278 (45 per cent) were deemed to be over 18.
Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood said some migrants would "test the system" but also rejected the idea of dental checks.
The Prime Minister's official spokeswoman said: "There are a whole range of checks in place that the Home Office and Border Force are using in co-operation with partners."
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