Diplomatic crisis looms as French bugs
'discovered in UK Defence Minister's office'
Last updated at 23:37pm on 17.02.08
A leading MP is to challenge the Government over
claims that a Defence Minister was bugged by the
French when he was responsible for the award of
billions of pounds worth of contracts.
Tory MP Patrick Mercer says senior security
sources have told him that bugs were placed in
the offices of Lord Drayson, the then-Defence
Procurement Minister, at the House of Lords and
in the Ministry of Defence, so the French could
eavesdrop on conversations about valuable projects.
The claim has the potential to cause a major
diplomatic row between Britain and France, which
regularly compete for huge defence equipment contracts all over the world.
'Car nut': Lord Drayson with his Aston Martin
The French bugging episode is said to have taken
place two years ago when major Labour Party donor
Lord Drayson was involved in the £20billion deal
to build two giant new supercarriers for the
Royal Navy and a project worth up to £60billion
for 3,000 British Army fighting vehicles.
Senior Government and Whitehall sources insisted
last night they had "no knowledge" of the bugging.
However, a former senior Whitehall official, who
has since left Government service, has revealed
he was told by a senior member of the
intelligence community that the French
eavesdropping on Lord Drayson took place.
According to intelligence sources, Lord Drayson's
office in the Lords was subjected to a routine
security sweep and a listening device was found
which had the "fingerprint" of the type used by the French.
The former senior Whitehall official confirmed
that a second bugging device was discovered
during a similar sweep during the same period at Lord Drayson's MoD office.
Coveted: One of the two planned Royal Navy supercarriers
Lord Drayson – who, with his family, is worth an
estimated £80million and controversially quit his
Ministerial post last November to pursue his
dream of competing in the Le Mans 24-hour race –
was yesterday on holiday in Europe.
He refused to comment on the allegations.
This was despite his UK office passing on details
of the bugging claims to him by mobile phone,
text and email on behalf of this newspaper.
After The Mail on Sunday tried for several days
to obtain a comment, Lord Drayson's office said:
"Lord Drayson decided when he left Ministerial
office never to discuss his role in Government, and he never will."
The French have long been suspected of carrying out spying missions in the UK.
Mr Mercer, the former Shadow Homeland Security
Minister, said: "It's disgraceful to think that a
so-called ally of this country should spy upon us.
"I have been told by well placed sources that
Lord Drayson was spied upon by the French and
that bugs were placed in his offices at the House of Lords and in the MoD.
"I shall raise this matter in the House of
Commons on Monday by putting down an urgent question.
"I am appalled to think that we should have laid
ourselves open to this sort of insidious treachery.
"No wonder that relationships between Britain and
France are always so strained."
Home away from home: Lord Drayson's south of France property
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said last
night: "This report suggests a shocking breach of national security.
"If true, it raises serious questions about the
integrity of communications from both Government and Parliament.
"We need some urgent answers.
"Why did the precautionary measures that should prevent such breaches fail?
"What security measures are now being taken?
"And what representations have been made to the
French about these very serious allegations?"
Mr Davis added: "This is not the first security breach at Parliament.
"Just one month ago, an illegal immigrant was
found working in the House of Commons.
"When will this Government get a grip on security?"
Father-of-five Lord Drayson is no stranger to controversy.
He sold his biotech group Powder-Ject for
£542million in 2003, a year after it was
controversially awarded a £32million Government
smallpox vaccine contract which caused its value to rise sharply.
Shortly before that, Lord Drayson had donated
£50,000 to the Labour Party, but a parliamentary
inquiry cleared him of any improper activity.
And after being made a working peer in 2004, Lord
Drayson gave Labour another £500,000, resulting
in claims that his peerage had been "bought".
A year later, the tycoon admitted that, until the
previous winter, he had kept his fortune in an
offshore trust in the Isle of Man, a popular destination to avoid UK taxes.
The trusts were wound up after he entered public life.
Lord and Lady Drayson live between homes in
London, Nether Lypiatt Manor near Stroud,
Gloucestershire – bought for almost £6million in
2006 from Prince and Princess Michael of Kent –
and a palatial £7million mansion at Tourettes sur Loup in the South of France.
Lord Drayson, who describes himself as a "car
nut", drives an Aston Martin Vanquish, his wife
has an Aston Martin DB9 and his collection includes a Lotus Elan.
The biotech multi-millionaire drives a six-litre
ethanol-powered, 200mph Aston Martin DBRS9
GT3-spec race car for Barwell Motorsport, a
company he helped found to realise his dream of
competing in the Le Mans 24-hour race.
He plans to compete in the US Le Mans series this
year, in the hope of qualifying for the
fully-fledged French classic, even though he has good sight in just one eye.
If the French bugging suspicion is substantiated,
it would not be the first time their security
services have been caught out in London.
Three years ago, The Mail on Sunday revealed how
French secret agent Pierre Martinet, who had
retired from the French DGSE foreign intelligence
service, came to London in 1998 to spy on a
suspected member of the Algerian Armed Islamic
Group, the GIA, which had links to Al-Qaeda.
The DGSE, unlike Britain's MI6, is a military
organisation with a reputation for ruthlessness –
in 1985 it blew up the Greenpeace protest ship
Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand, which had been
set to embarrass France over nuclear tests, killing a crew member.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
World Class, Professional, Ethical, and Competent Bug Sweeps, and
Wiretap Detection using Sophisticated Laboratory Grade Test Equipment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James M. Atkinson Phone: (978) 546-3803
Granite Island Group Fax: (978) 546-9467
127 Eastern Avenue #291 Web:
http://www.tscm.com/
Gloucester, MA 01931-8008 E-mail: mailto:jm..._at_tscm.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We perform bug sweeps like it's a full contact sport, we take no prisoners,
and we give no quarter. Our goal is to simply, and completely stop the spy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:28 CST