British MP allegedly bugged by police

British MP allegedly bugged by police

news.bbc.co.uk

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has ordered an inquiry into claims police bugged a Muslim Labour MP as he visited a constituent in jail.

Tooting MP Sadiq Khan and Babar Ahmad were recorded twice in Milton Keynes's Woodhill Prison, the Sunday Times says.

The US is seeking to extradite Mr Ahmad on suspicion of running websites raising funds for the Taleban.

Mr Straw said it was "completely unacceptable" for an MP to be recorded while talking to a constituent.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
politics.guardian.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk
www.telegraph.co.uk

I'm surprised no one has posted this yet (forgive me if I'm mistaken!) but this is pretty big news in the UK.

It's pretty complicated, and there are many questions that have yet to be answered, but in a nutshell a Member of Parliament was supposedly bugged whilst visiting a constituent in prison (the prisoner is being detained pending extradition to the United States on terrorism charges).

It raises a number of questions, not least:
1) Who was actually being bugged? The MP or the prisoner? Or both?
2) Why were they bugged in the first place?
3) Did the police learn anything?
4) Why wasn't permission sought from an elected minister?

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I'd was surprised too. Maybe cause it's non-American news

This is HIGHLY worrying, the police should not be spying on MP's

It's dangerous for our democracy.

A futher development... the Conservatives have called the Prime Minister a "liar" over the issue for failing to protect MPs from bugging.

The Conservatives are demanding a fresh Commons statement over the bugging of an MP which they say has made a "liar" of the Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

It followed the revelation Home Office and Ministry of Justice officials were told about the incident in December.

Shadow home secretary David Davis said the case made the PM a "liar" as it countered prime ministerial pledges to protect MPs from bugging.

Source: BBC News

We're on very dubious ground here since the so-called 'Wilson Doctrine' (a promise made by former PM Harold Wilson which stated that the security services would not bug MPs) is technically not a law.

There seems to be a lot of ifs and buts in this story as more twists and turns emerge.