Scotland Yard cleared after bugging of MP 'broke no rules'

Amid a furore over the way Tooting MP Sadiq Khan was allegedly eavesdropped upon by anti-terrorism officers, the view in Whitehall appeared to be that no rules were broken.

The official stance came as a shock to campaigners who were under the impression that since 1966 the security forces had been barred from bugging MPs.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw was making an emergency statement on the incident and exactly what the law really says in the Commons this afternoon.

There was speculation that he would announce a root and branch reform to give greater protection to MPs' private conversations with constituents in future.

Earlier, the Prime Minister's spokesman drew reporters' attention to the exact words used by former premier Harold Wilson in 1966 when he spelled out the rules governing buggings and MPs.

Wilson only referred to a ban on the bugging of phone conversations - whereas Mr Khan was bugged by a device placed in a table at Woodhill Prison, where he was meeting constituent and childhood friend Babar Ahmad, who is fighting extradition to the US on accusations of running a pro-terror website. No10 refused to say how the 1966 statement should be applied in practice, but the implication was that Scotland Yard would only have been in the wrong if it had bugged Mr Khan's personal telephone.

A written Commons answer last September by Gordon Brown stated the Wilson Doctrine also applied to any intercepts that have to be authorised by a Cabinet minister. In the Khan case, the bug would have been authorised by the Surveillance Commissioner, so it was exempt from the ban.

The new twist seemed to take some of the pressure off Met chief Sir Ian Blair, although MPs and campaigners were still livid that the bugging appeared to have taken place. Mr Khan said: " Constituents should have the confidence to speak to their MP in confidence, with candour, so they can be helped with their case."

Whitehall sources said MI5, the security service, was not involved in the operation, which left the finger pointing clearly at Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism branch.

There were suggestions that the Khan bugging did not reach Sir Ian's desk but was handled at assistant commissioner level. Mr Straw and the Prime Minister appear to have known nothing.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We do not discuss matters of national security but recognise they are subject to proper scrutiny." He said an independent tribunal existed to consider complaints. Mr Straw has ordered an inquiry. Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Home Affairs Committee of MPs, said they may carry out a separate-inquiry. Tory leader David Cameron said:"We need some very clear answers.Who knew about the bugging? How high up did the permission go? Did they know they were effectively bugging an MP? And if they did know, did they ensure it was authorised at the highest level?"