MI5 To Spy On Elected Representatives (moved from ATSNN)

It appears that Tony Blair is about to grant powers to MI5 that will enable them to bug MP's telephone conversations, a move which will reverse a forty year old convention barring such actions. The Prime Minister has attempted to pre-empt any outcry by stating that MP's should be subject to the same rules that apply to ordinary citizens and that safeguards will be put in place to ensure against any abuse of such powers. Cabinet members are said to be furious as a result, with a call being made for the matter to be investigated by the Commons' Committee on Standards and Privileges.



Of course, if you are doing no wrong then you have nothing to worry about, but it does seem strange that the security services would want to spy upon the very people that we elect to run the country.

Bugging of individuals that have been flagged up as terrorist suspects is one thing, but enabling the bugging of the people who make the decisions that effect us all is something entirely different. It does make one wonder just what they will be listening out for.

A conspiracy theorist may get the idea that certain behind the scenes figures want to monitor any dissent regarding Government policy or such like, but then that cannot happen in a modern Western democracy, can it?

[edit on 15-1-2006 by KhieuSamphan]

[edit on 15-1-2006 by KhieuSamphan]

[edit on 1-15-2006 by Valhall]

Voted Yes on this.

I expect the "security" services, as a rule, run surveillance on MP's anyway.
Any intelligence organisation will always have it's cliques and departmental allegiances rather than it's stated goal of protecting the nation.
MP's are those who have some power to make the rules that the rest of us will follow, so any past indiscretions or skeletons in closets would be ammunition in getting them to play ball, rather than face scandal and ridicule by the voting public.

Truth is, we are ALL under surveillance as any one of us could potentially be a threat to the old-boy network of senior civil servants and "connected" elite that really hold the power.
It's only fair though that MP's should be subject to the same scryutiny that they themselves are voting into law for the rest of us. It all comes down to "who watches the watchers"?