Support Our Work Mailing list About / Contact

UK: SPECIAL BRANCH SPIES ON MPs

25 March 2015

Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

"Police conducted spying operations on a string of Labour politicians during the 1990s, covertly monitoring them even after they had been elected to the House of Commons, a whistleblower has revealed.....Peter Francis, a former undercover police officer, said he read secret files on 10 MPs during his 11 years working for the Metropolitan polices special branch. They include Labours current deputy leader, Harriet Harman, the former cabinet minister Peter Hain and the former home secretary Jack Straw."

See the article: Pollice continued spying on Labour activists after their election as MPs - Ex-minister Peter Hain says whistleblowers disclosure of spying operations during 1990s raises questions about parliamentary sovereignty (Guardian, link)

and See: Why were special branch watching me even when I was an MP? Peter Hain: Having active files on MPs who were seen as radical decades earlier is a fundamental threat to our democracy (pdf):

"these files were still active for at least 10 years while I was an MP certainly is and raises fundamental questions about parliamentary sovereignty. The same is true of my Labour MP colleagues Jack Straw, Harriet Harman, Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, Ken Livingstone, Dennis Skinner and Joan Ruddock, as well as former colleagues Tony Benn and Bernie Grant all of us named by Peter Francis, a former Special Demonstration Squad undercover police spy turned whistleblower."

See also: The Wilson Doctrine (pdf): "The convention that MPs communications should not be intercepted by police or security services is known as the Wilson Doctrine. It is named after the former Prime Minister Harold Wilson who established the rule in 1966"

Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

 Previous article

EU-PNR: Substantial reservations expressed in: Letter from the Article 29 data protection Working Party to Claude moraes, Chair of the Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE)

Next article 

UK: Report on foreign fighters demands better communication between police, schools and parents; increased social media and travel controls

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error

Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.

About | Contact | Privacy Policy