This is disturbing. Not because we do. Of course we do! But the fact that the press seem to amazed that it has actually happened, and also the ludicrous idea the the Prime Minister himself should have a)known about it and b)authorised it.

There seems to be (at least) two questions here :

1.Why should MPs be bugged ?

And

2.Should there be special control and authorisation ?

Regarding (1), we should remember that MPs are public servants of high importance and position, paid for by the tax-payer. They are often privy to quite confidential information, and have a great deal of influence in general affairs. We may be concerned that they are abusing their power , or we may be concerned that they may be susceptible to blackmail. Performing these two roles is bread-and-butter work for our security agencies. Should we bug them all, all the time, probably not , that's not terribly efficient, but we should be prepared to move quickly if we think that National Security is at stake. That's what it's about.

(2) is somewhat trickier. The two more visible agencies in the UK are MI5 and MI6. In fact these aren't even their real names, just the media-labels for the "Security Service" and the "Secret Service". Of these two, MI5 has no direct executive authority, and reports to the Prime Minister. MI6 can act in its own interest.

So the answer to (2) is Yes and No! If the bugging was an MI6 operation, then it's quite possible that the PM would never hear about it. If it was MI5 then he ought to be in the loop. Somewhere.

Is it sensible having MI6 able to act with such freedom ? Well that's another issue. But it seems to be working rather well, and managing its power pretty well.

As a final thing to think about, it's highly likely that other nations are already bugging our MPs. It would silly to imagine that the CIA et al are not already doing it. We won't get PM authorisation over this either, so live with it.