Blair wants to bug MPs

For the past 40 years, the ability of Britain’s security services to spy on its Parliament has been governed by the so-called "Wilson Doctrine" that there should be no tapping whatsoever, whatever the circumstances, of MP's phones - and that any change would require the permission of the Commons. Since its introduction in 1966, the doctrine has been reconfirmed by every successive British government - until now. Under the guise of the "war on terror", Tony Blair wants to overturn the ban, and allow the security services to snoop on MPs.

This is a threat to democracy of the highest order; as a context article from The Independent notes, it is all too easy for such power to be abused. There are no institutional checks and balances on the use of wiretaps in the UK - authorisation is granted by a Cabinet Minister (typically the Home Secretary) rather than independently reviewed by a judge - meaning that there is nothing to stop a government from confusing the "national interest" with its own political interests, or the security services from collecting dirt "as a safeguard" should an MP challenge their interests. With Blair, the risk is likely to be spying on his own rebellious backbenchers and using MI5 and blackmail as a backup to the party whip, rather than targeting the opposition - but given that many of those backbench rebellions are driven by serious concerns over civil liberties, that ought to concern us all.

Fortunately, Blair's "modest proposal" is already meeting with strong opposition, from within Cabinet as well as Parliament. When the Ministry of Defence is against further wiretapping, you know that this is nothing but a paranoid fetish for snooping on the part of the Prime Minister. Hopefully, Blair will be smart enough not to risk putting it to the Commons - otherwise he may himself dealt yet another humiliating defeat by his own backbenchers...