BRITAIN:Labour has demanded an apology after Conservative claims that ministerial and official accounts about the bugging of MP Sadiq Khan had made a "liar" of prime minister Gordon Brown.
Conservative shadow home secretary David Davis made the charge yesterday following confirmation that ministry of justice and Home Office officials "became aware in December" of issues concerning Mr Khan's prison visits to the childhood friend and constituent now fighting extradition to the United States on terrorism charges.
Justice secretary Jack Straw told MPs on Monday that he and home secretary Jacqui Smith first learned of the alleged police recording of Mr Khan's conversations with Babar Ahmad on Saturday, at which point they agreed to order an immediate inquiry. On Sunday, 10 Downing Street insisted it had never received a letter from Mr Davis to the prime minister alerting him to the alleged bugging of a Labour MP.
Following the latest disclosure, however, Mr Davis suggested it was "beyond belief" that the department "would not flag up to a minister" that the so-called Wilson Doctrine - understood to ban the tapping of MPs' and Lords' telephones without prime ministerial approval - might have been broken. Mr Davis said the fact that officials knew about the Khan case in December raised questions about "who is in charge" of surveillance in the UK.
"Why was this allowed to happen without ministerial knowledge," Mr Davis asked. "When it was discovered in December they didn't tell Jack Straw or Jacqui Smith. These intercepts have broken a prime ministerial promise. They involve the intercept of the justice [ government] whip, someone who works with Mr Straw. This is a very serious issue. It's a breach of a prime ministerial undertaking to parliament, so it makes the prime minister a liar, basically."
Commons leader Harriet Harman rejected the claim, demanded an apology from Mr Davis, and condemned Conservative leader David Cameron's failure to order one. "I really don't think our politics is going to go forward and get anywhere if you have the opposition leader and the shadow home secretary hurling insults at the prime minister with no justification at all."
However, Mr Cameron said there was a need for greater clarity about the rules governing surveillance and eavesdropping. "MPs and the public at large need to be told about what sort of clearance is needed for intercepting telephones, for other listening devices, so people can have an understanding of the state of the law in respect of surveillance," the Tory leader said.
Mr Cameron's call for greater clarity followed a London Times revelation that an illegal bug had been uncovered in a second British prison, and as defence lawyers voiced fears that covert surveillance of solicitors' conversations with clients might be commonplace.
Meanwhile Mark Kearney - the ex-police intelligence officer who claimed he bugged Mr Khan's Woodhill Prison visits under "significant pressure" from the Metropolitan Police - said yesterday he feared his life was now "at risk". Mr Kearney is due to appear in court next week on unrelated charges connected to the alleged leaking of information to a local newspaper reporter.