Bang on cue, Cameron this week reiterated what Andrew Parker, head of MI5, had demanded just before, that in the light of the Paris killings the UK security services needed more surveillance powers. Whenever there is a terrorist incident MI5 never misses an opportunity to demand ‘more resources’, closely followed in tandem by Cameron and May. Nobody of course would wish to deny the security services the funding and powers they need to target terrorists, but there are genuine questions to be asked as to how far extra powers are needed, especially if it is in the blanket form of mass surveillance. Continue reading
Tagged with security services
Civil liberties tossed out of the window as Labour is mesmerised by security services
The emergency surveillance bill rushed through Parliament this week was somewhat overshadowed by David Cameron’s reshuffle and the luridly misogynistic coverage of it in parts of the Tory press. But this bill, which gave government emergency powers so that the police and security services can continue to access phone and internet records, represented a new low in the manipulation of the Parliamentary timetable.
The obvious warning signal about this bill was that all three party leaders had struck a deal about it. When the three front benches close ranks against their own bank benchers, it is a sure indication that they are up to no good. In Britain we have no written constitution or the checks and balances of other political systems. The only check on government is vigorous opposition and proper scrutiny. But the three party leaders came together in order to make proper scrutiny of the emergency surveillance bill almost impossible. Continue reading
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The defend-the-security-services-right-or-wrong mob get bollocking in Commons debate
On every count the platitudinous apologists for mass surveillance took a kicking in yesterday’s Commons debate. Julian Smith, the previously unknown Tory MP who tried to get the Guardian prosecuted for treasonous behaviour in publishing details from the Snowden files, was reminded that the secretary of the D Notice committee, which advises the press against making revelations which could threaten national security, had made clear that the Guardian material did not involve a threat to anyone’s life. Continue reading
