Serious Fraud Office Detectives suspect North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb’s Westminster office ‘could be bugged’.

Infolib.co.uk | 30 June 2007

By Shaun Envis

North Norfolk Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb, who has been investigating the BEA Tanzania deal in which it is believed that millions of pounds in kickbacks were paid in to Swiss bank accounts has been told by the Serious Fraud Office that they suspect his Westminster office could be bugged.

Mr Lamb contacted the police some time ago and asked them to investigate suspected corruption involving a BAE arms deal with the heavily indebted African country of Tanzania. Mr Lambs request was turned down by the police as ‘there wasn’t sufficient evidence’.

Detectives from the Serious Fraud Office later contacted Mr Lamb and requested to interview him because they were aware of his involvement in the case. Mr Lamb met with detectives and suggested that they conduct the interview in his Westminster office but said he was ‘taken back’ when detectives expressed their concerns that his Westminster office ‘could be bugged’.

Mr Lamb said he was ‘amazed that officers from the Serious Fraud Office were concerned that his offices as a member of parliament might actually be bugged.’

The comments were made by Mr Lamb in his June 15th ‘Radio Lamb’ podcast. Although Mr Lamb didn’t comment on who the Serious Fraud Office believe could be behind the suspected bugging, with such powerful interests involved in the case it is suspected that authorization would have came from the highest levels of British Intelligence.

The bugging of Mr Lamb should not come as a surprise. The security services have a history of this kind of activity. Only recently the government was urged by Sir Swinton Thomas to end the 41-year-old ban on the tapping of MPs' telephones.

The illegal bugging of officials is nothing new. During the cold war MI5 and MI6 would infiltrate construction sites and build listening devices in to the walls. In one case MI5 closed Lancaster House for two weeks for ‘renovations’ and built listening devices in to every room in the house, this allowed the security services to spy on high-level diplomatic negotiations throughout the 60s and 70s.

Mr Lamb might not have been so amazed that his offices could be bugged if he had read former assistant director of MI5 Peter Wright’s book Spycatcher in which Mr Wright tells us about the illegal bugging of officials he was involved in during the Cold War.

More recently British intelligence were involved in the bugging of kofi Annan during the run up to the war on Iraq.

Scottish Nationalist MP Angus MacNeil also ran in to trouble with elements of the security services after he triggered the police investigation into the cash-for-peerages scandal. MacNeil found himself the victim of a ‘dirty tricks vendetta’ of 'intense intrusion' and was subject to a ‘covert spying operation’ by his ‘political enemies’ and had to have his commons office 'swept' for bugs after the Metropolitan Police investigated a suspected break-in.

So far it seems that the mainstream media have failed to mention Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health Norman Lambs comments even though he holds such a high position within his party. Local media also appear to have failed to pick up on the story, The North Norfolk News, The EDP, The North Norfolk Advertiser and The Norwich Evening News all owned by Archant Media seem to be unaware of Mr Lamb’s comments.