Prescott: Spies tapped MP’s phone

SPOOKS tapped the phone of the late Ulster firebrand the Rev Ian Paisley – despite orders not to spy on MPs.

Former Deputy PM John Prescott lifts the lid on the extraordinary breach in his Sunday Mirror column today.

He reveals how Tony Blair told him in 2005 that security services had eavesdropped on an MP.

He pressed the then PM for a name and learned it was the DUP leader and MP for North Antrim, who died in 2014.

Lord Prescott writes: “Downing Street had been told by the Interception of Communications Commissioner, who wanted to name Paisley. Parliament was not informed and Paisley went on to become First Minister of Northern Ireland.”

Lord Prescott has decided to break his silence over fears that electronic snooping to catch terrorists will lead to an erosion of privacy.

Tapping an MP’s phone was a breach of the Wilson Doctrine, laid down by Labour PM Harold Wilson in 1966.

He ordered that no eavesdropping on MPs should take place and if that position changed, Parliament must be informed.

Theresa May said in October 2015, when she was still Home Secretary, that the Wilson Doctrine still applied. Lord Prescott does not know when Pailsey’s phone was tapped or whether MI5, MI6, police or the Army were responsible. He approached then Commons Speaker Michael Martin to discuss how the Wilson Doctrine was applied but did not mention it was prompted by what he had learned about Paisley. Lord Prescott was concerned that a constituent’s private matters would be overheard if spies were listening to MPs’ calls. Paisley was an MP for 40 years from 1970 until 2010 when his son, Ian Paisley Jr, took over his seat. He led the DUP from 1971 to 2008 and was First Minister in 2007-8. Lord Prescott