The Observer

Sunday September 6, 1998

MPs call for closer scrutiny of security services

By Patrick Wintour, Political Editor

An independent investigator should be appointed to look into allegations of malpractice by the security services, a parliamentary committee has recommended.

The recommendation is contained in a report sent to Tony Blair by the all-party Committee on Intelligence and Security, senior MPs appointed by the Prime Minister to monitor the security services. Chaired by Tom King, the former Conservative Cabinet Minister, it believes the proposal would allow Parliament to mount proper investigations into allegations such as those made by David Shayler, the former MI5 officer, who claims that members of MI6 paid a Libyan dissident group intent on assassinating the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gadaffi.

The Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, has dismissed the claim.

Shayler is in prison in Paris pending extradition to face charges under the Official Secrets Act.

At present the committee, the only parliamentary overseer of the security services, is serviced by a small group of officials in the Cabinet Office. The committee members believe the civil servants do not have the authority or status to mount proper investigations.

The committee has also recommended that former members of MI5 and MI6 should be entitled to go to an industrial tribunal if they believe they have been dismissed unfairly. It is not satisfied that the services' internal procedures are adequate.

*The committee has also recommended that an independent committee, and not the security services, decide which files on British subjects should be destroyed and which should be retained for historical research purposes. After a recent review, Home Secretary Jack Straw is looking at new guidelines to be drawn up with the help of historians, but has said it would be for the security services to make decisions on individual files. The committee says the decisions should be made by an independent body.*