Met Chief Taped Attorney General Call

So what do we all think of this?

Britain's top police officer, Sir Ian Blair, was under fresh pressure yesterday after he admitted that he had covertly recorded a telephone conversation he had with the attorney general about counter terrorism.

The recording was made without the permission of the government's most senior law officer, a spokesperson for the attorney general said.

Sir Ian, commissioner of the Metropolitan police, secretly recorded Lord Goldsmith during a call in which the two men discussed whether a ban on evidence gathered from intercepts being admissible in court should be lifted. A Whitehall source, close to the attorney general, made clear the anger at the Met commissioner. The source said Lord Goldsmith was "incredibly cross and very disappointed" by the revelations, which he viewed as "very serious", adding that Sir Ian's conduct was "unethical and discourteous" and the incident raised questions about his judgment.

Sir Ian is reported to have used a digital recorder set up in his offices at New Scotland Yard to covertly tape Lord Goldsmith in September 2005.

The same Whitehall source told the Guardian that Lord Goldsmith had spoken to Charles Clarke, the home secretary, yesterday to tell of his anger at Sir Ian's conduct, and an explanation was expected. Mr Clarke is expected to press Sir Ian for answers for his behaviour.

The bafflement and shock at Sir Ian's conduct was not just limited to the attorney general. The admissions led to a call from the civil rights group Liberty for the commissioner to quit and two senior Met officers to conclude that Sir Ian was out of control.

In a sign of the potential seriousness of the affair, Len Duval, the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, will today hold an emergency meeting with senior figures at Scotland Yard to discuss the row.

Sir Ian is still recovering from the criticism he faced after saying that he did not understand the media and public fuss made after the murder of the 10-year-old girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells by the Soham caretaker Ian Huntley.

Scotland Yard also said yesterday that Sir Ian had secretly recorded telephone calls he had with senior officials from the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the Stockwell tube station killing and his personal conduct. The force offered no explanation for the actions of Sir Ian, who is on holiday.

A spokesperson for Lord Goldsmith said: "The conversation was recorded without the knowledge or permission of the attorney general. It was a confidential discussion about the admissibility of intercept evidence in court."

Secret recordings made by police are covered by laws including the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. A senior police officer experienced in operating under the act said that if someone were acting as a police officer, then they would need written pre-authorisation to record a telephone call.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil rights group Liberty, said Sir Ian was out of control and had to resign: "A government that has given the police a blank cheque, now finds themselves on the receiving end of the abuse of police powers. This is unlawful under article eight of the European convention on human rights, which covers the right to privacy, and possibly under domestic law. His position is untenable; how can we have confidence he respects the rule of law?"

A source close to Mr Clarke said: "The home secretary still retains full confidence in Sir Ian Blair."

The Met was also criticised yesterday after it confirmed to a tabloid newspaper that it had received an allegation from a woman who claimed that she had been raped by Charles de Menezes, the man shot dead at Stockwell tube station after being mistaken for a terrorist. Mr de Menezes's cousin, Allessandro Pereira, said: "The family are furious at the la-*test*-('") attempt to smear the name of Jean Charles de Menezes to draw attention away from the truth about his brutal death at the hands of police officers on 22 July 2005."

The attorney general today said he had accepted an apology from Britain's top police officer, Sir Ian Blair, for secretly recording one of their telephone conversations.

Pressure has been mounting on Sir Ian since the existence of his recordings emerged yesterday. Speaking today before the apology was accepted, Harriet Harman, the constitutional affairs minister, called for an inquiry into the Metropolitan police commissioner's "very baffling" decision to tape his calls.

A statement from the attorney general's office said Lord Goldsmith - who was last night said to be "incredibly cross and very disappointed" - had heard Sir Ian's explanation and now regarded the matter as closed.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said any explanation from Sir Ian should be made public. "I think now we all want to hear it, and if it doesn't ring true and it's not adequate, I think it's very hard for any of us to have trust in him as the senior law enforcer, police officer in this country."
She told the BBC's Today programme that trust was "a very, very important" part of democratic arrangements in Britain and Sir Ian had "some serious explaining to do".

"The bitter irony is that this is a government that has made great play of its support of the police," she added. "They have, in my opinion, given them too many unchecked powers. And here it is at the receiving end of this most appalling abuse of police powers."

Sir Ian is reported to have used a digital recorder set up in his offices at New Scotland Yard to covertly tape Lord Goldsmith in September 2005, and also members of the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigating the Stockwell shooting of the Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.

The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Nick Clegg, said: "Controversy appears to attach itself to Sir Ian on an almost daily basis. These reports raise serious questions about his judgment and his leadership style.

"Sir Ian will have to come up with a very good explanation for this extraordinary behaviour."

Len Duval, the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), is today holding an emergency meeting with senior figures at Scotland Yard to discuss the row.

One of the MPA's members, Richard Barnes, has already suggested that Sir Ian "should be considering his position" in the wake of last night's revelations.

"These extraneous activities are making him the story rather than the Met and that is always a dangerous place to be." The Tory MP Robert Wilson has tabled a Commons motion calling for Sir Ian to be sacked. "It is an accumulation of errors over a long period of time," he said. "All this is of his own making. There has been an accumulation of errors of judgment over a fairly short period of time."

He added: "If he gets the judgment wrong when he is fighting terrorism we are all going to live to regret it. So my view on the situation is that it is much better that he is sacked now and the problem is dealt with now, rather than wait for a catastrophe to take place."

An IPCC spokesman said the taped conversations with three of its senior officials came to light as part of its inquiry in the aftermath of the Stockwell Tube station shooting of Mr de Menezes. One was with its chairman, Nick Hardwick.

The calls had been recorded "without our prior consent", the spokesman said, adding: "We are surprised about the recording of calls and now have the recordings. We are dealing with this issue."

A Metropolitan police spokesman said: "The Metropolitan police service has not sought to conceal that conversations were recorded and volunteered this information to the IPCC."

Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), it is not illegal for individuals to tape conversations provided the recording is for their own use.

Recording or monitoring are only prohibited where some of the contents of the communication are made available to a third party. If a person intends to make the conversation available to a third party, they must obtain the consent of the person being recorded.

It is not clear whether Sir Ian, who is due to return from holiday tomorrow, will face an internal Met investigation over the tapes.

Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot seven times in the head by plain-clothes police officers at Stockwell Tube station on July 22.

The MPA oversees the work of Scotland Yard and has the power to require its commissioner to retire or resign in the interests of the efficiency or effectiveness of the force. In addition, the home secretary, Charles Clarke, has the authority to require the MPA to exercise these powers if he feels it is necessary.

However, a Home Office spokesman insisted today that the la-*test*-('") furore was a matter for the MPA and the Met.

The controversy over the taped phone calls is the la-*test*-('") in a series of rows to embroil Sir Ian, who is already under investigation for his conduct in the wake of the shooting of Mr de Menezes. He was also criticised recently for remarks about the Soham murders.