Blair may drop 40-year bar on tapping MPs' telephones
telegraph: Tony Blair is considering lifting a general ban on the tapping of MPs' telephones, John Reid, the Defence Secretary, confirmed yesterday.
The secret surveillance has been banned for 40 years under a convention known as the Wilson Doctrine, brought in by the former prime minister Harold Wilson.
Mr Reid told ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby programme that the lifting of the ban had been suggested by Sir Swinton Thomas, the interception of communications commissioner.
The Prime Minister is understood to favour an end to the ban but faces opposition from colleagues, including Mr Reid, whose opposition provoked a row in the Cabinet.
An announcement on the issue, which comes under an expansion of MI5 powers since the London bombings, is expected within weeks. Link
db: Something to be born in mind when considering a telephone call to your democratically elected representative.
The secret surveillance has been banned for 40 years under a convention known as the Wilson Doctrine, brought in by the former prime minister Harold Wilson.
Mr Reid told ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby programme that the lifting of the ban had been suggested by Sir Swinton Thomas, the interception of communications commissioner.
The Prime Minister is understood to favour an end to the ban but faces opposition from colleagues, including Mr Reid, whose opposition provoked a row in the Cabinet.
An announcement on the issue, which comes under an expansion of MI5 powers since the London bombings, is expected within weeks. Link
db: Something to be born in mind when considering a telephone call to your democratically elected representative.
posted by exoplanet at 6:03 PM
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