Britain:The investigation into the alleged bugging of Labour MP Sadiq Khan's prison visits to a constituent fighting extradition to the US should report within the next fortnight, justice secretary Jack Straw told MPs yesterday.
Mr Straw announced the terms of reference for the inquiry by chief surveillance commissioner Sir Christopher Rose in an emergency statement to the Commons yesterday. While offering no confirmation of the original Sunday Timesstory, Mr Straw's statement was interpreted as signalling that the alleged surveillance at Woodhill Prison was likely to have been part of a police operation, which would not have required ministerial approval.
Soon after Mr Straw made his statement, the BBC claimed that the decision to bug the conversations between Mr Khan and Babar Ahmed was taken by Thames Valley Police and that Mr Ahmed, and not Mr Khan, was the target.
Mr Straw also confirmed the government's continuing support for the so-called "Wilson doctrine", a convention promulgated by former prime minister Harold Wilson banning the tapping of telephones of MPs and members of the House of Lords and applying "to all forms of interception that are subject to authorisation by secretary of state warrant".
However, Mr Straw was unable to answer specific questions from MPs, one of whom asked if he could say whether, to his knowledge, the telephone of any MP had been tapped in the last 10 years. "It is always a logical impossibility to prove a negative," Mr Straw told Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather, who asked about the confidentiality of her discussions with ministers on behalf of two constituents held at Guantánamo Bay.
Mr Straw also confirmed that the "Wilson doctrine" does not extend to members of the devolved institutions in Belfast, Cardiff or Edinburgh. When asked by one Tory backbencher if the doctrine only applied to MPs who had sworn the oath and taken their seats at Westminster - this in obvious reference to Sinn Féin MPs - Mr Straw replied: "The 'Wilson doctrine' applies as stated."
Shadow home secretary David Davis argued that the minister should by yesterday have been able to answer questions about its authorisation.
Mr Davis questioned Mr Straw about failures in the monitoring and review procedures that appeared to have allowed recordings of Mr Khan, made in 2005 and 2006, "to go unchecked for, in some cases, 2½ years". And he said the government would need to establish "whether this is an isolated case, or whether other MPs have been bugged in the past".
However, Mr Davis also observed the "almost absolute" rules about "the privileged nature of communications between a member of parliament and a constituent", saying: "The question arises - what would we do if a member of parliament did become implicated in actions or communications relating to a terrorist plot?" Mr Davis suggested the inquiry should consider this issue among others before bringing it back to the house.