Leading article: Blair delivers less than justice

Published: 15 January 2006

Tony Blair wants to dispense with the 40-year-old convention that the security services do not bug the telephones of Members of Parliament, we report today. In this, we accept that his motives are entirely proper. His responsibility as Prime Minister is above all to ensure the security of the nation, and he has been advised that this is a necessary step. This newspaper has a proud record of campaigning in defence of civil liberties, but we are not naïve. We recognise that suicide terrorism is peculiarly difficult to anticipate and that protection against jihadism requires the traditional safeguards of liberty to be reconsidered. Reconsidered, but not junked.

No one thinks that Mr Blair wants to spy on his political opponents, but the very idea of parliamentary privilege is a vital bulwark against undemocratic temptations that might be felt by leaders as yet unknown.

Article Length: 246 words (approx.)