In the HoL debate, Lord West of Spithead said:
This is what an official in the Home Office told me... I haven't circulated or uploaded this email yet... I was waiting for the final set of documents. Given they've punted that into the long grass here it is:
I think that speaks for itself really, in a confused sort of way. I can't make sense of "we did we". Did we or didn't we.
Perhaps they asked BT not to tell them, as if that would make it alright.
It seems strange that the Home Office would not expect to be informed that someone was conducting secret mass surveillance at the core of BT's network, twice, using Russian supplied systems, during a period of
critical/
severe security alert, as a courtesy perhaps if nothing else...
The Home Office still won't tell me when they first received enquiries, who the enquiries came from, or what the substance of those enquiries was.
See here for
current thoughts and HO FoI releases.
Pete.