Bugging

The Group Privacy International on its website produces a map of the world according to the level of surveillance of the public and the controls to limit it. Britain ranks at the most dangerous level ‘endemic surveillance societies’ along with Russia, China, Malaysia etc.

Now I believe it is the right thing to do to bug suspected terrorists and serious criminals. And I believe it to be perfectly possible that someone with terrorist leaning could become an MP: the Wilson doctrine whereby MPs are not bugged, drawn up at a time of suspected and proven communists in the government, was clearly always nonsense.

But we need to change two things: firstly the bugging of people over trivial matters. It is clearly wrong that councils can tap your phone if they suspect you of not filling the rubbish bins correctly. Secondly we need proper accountability: if someone has been bugged we need to know exactly who will have authorised that bugging. Often it will have been the right thing to do or at least defensible. Sometimes I fear it will not have been and that person needs to be held to account.

The Tories are going to find this hard to articulate, but they must try.