[Wildwell]

Tony Blair is preparing to scrap a 40-year ban on tapping MPs' telephones, despite fierce Cabinet opposition, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

He is expected to formally announce to the Commons within weeks that MPs can no longer be sure that the security services and others will not intercept their communications.

Until now, successive administrations have pledged that there should be no tapping "whatsoever" of MPs' phones, and that they would be told if it was necessary to breach the ban.

But that convention - known as the Wilson Doctrine, after Harold Wilson, the prime minister who introduced it - is to be abandoned in an expansion of MI5 powers following the London bombings.

MPs should be treated in the same way as other citizens and will be given the same safeguards against wrongful tapping, the Prime Minister will say.

The decision provoked a furious row in the Cabinet just before Christmas, when the Secretary of State for Defence, John Reid, voiced his opposition.

His outburst surprised other ministers, since he is seen as one of Mr Blair's closest allies and not known for his support for civil liberties.

"Reid demanded to know why on earth we were going down this route," said one government colleague. "It was all the more surprising since you would have thought the MoD is one of the departments most in favour of increased surveillance powers."

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politi ... 338691.ece

[Specop_007]

GOOD!

GOOD GOOD GOOD!!! Its about fucking time those on the top are measured by the same stick as those on the bottom!! Maybe those fuckers will start to know how it feels!!

[Schweinshaxe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'G')OOD!

GOOD GOOD GOOD!!! Its about fucking time those on the top are measured by the same stick as those on the bottom!! Maybe those fuckers will start to know how it feels!!

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schweinshaxe', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'G')OOD!

GOOD GOOD GOOD!!! Its about fucking time those on the top are measured by the same stick as those on the bottom!! Maybe those fuckers will start to know how it feels!!

[elroy]

So to who does the secret service answer ? Who watches the watchers ?

[0mar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'G')OOD!

GOOD GOOD GOOD!!! Its about fucking time those on the top are measured by the same stick as those on the bottom!! Maybe those fuckers will start to know how it feels!!

[smallpoxgirl]

I don't disagree with what you said Specop, but the lack of logic in these things is astonishing. "We're going to start bugging MPs phones. Why? Because of the London bombings" Was an MP somehow involved in the bombings? Not that I've heard of. Why would anyone think that this somehow relates to the bombings?

A friend of mine was trying to get her 16 y/o daughter from Oregon back to Montana. They bought her a ticket on Amtrak. So they go down to the Amtrak station only to be told the kid can't ride. "Why? She doesn't have ID. She's under 18, kids don't need ID. Well, we've changed our rules because of the London bombings." Were any of the London bombers under 18? No. Did they have ID? Almost certainly. Were any of them riding Amtrak? No. So why would ID'ing kids on Amtrak somehow have anything to do with the London bombings? In fact how would ID'ing anyone for anything have anything to do with the London bombings. None of the London bombers had any prior criminal record. They could show an ID just like anybody else. It's like no one cares how uterly assinine the rules are. Somehow if they're getting hastled more by people in uniforms then they think it's somehow making them safer.

Respectully I would submit that you would do much more to further the safety on Londoners, by not blowing up Iraqis on a daily basis, than by eavesdropping on your MPs.

[Raxozanne]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('elroy', 'S')o to who does the secret service answer ? Who watches the watchers ?

[Schweinshaxe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Raxozanne', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('elroy', 'S')o to who does the secret service answer ? Who watches the watchers ?