Foreign office criticised over scrutiny of UK spy agencies
APPG Chair, Ken Clarke, is quoted in the today's Financial Times on concerns over the lack of challenge by the Foreign Office when signing off possible unlawful action by UK spy agencies overseas.
The Financial Times article is in response to the recent annual report published by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office. Ken Clarke said: “ It is extremely important that the secretary of state takes this role seriously and scrutinises adequately and in some detail what he or she is being asked to authorise. Over successive governments some ministers have acted conscientiously and properly but others have tended to sign off whatever is presented to them. It must not be left to the practices of individual ministers to ensure confidence in the authorisation process.”
The article draws a link back to the UK’s role in the so-called “war on terror”, where ministers did not sufficiently question the agencies.
The full article is available here.
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