Letter to the Chair of the Committee from
Mr Peter Mason, Parliamentary Security Co-ordinator
Further to the evidence given by the Clerk of
the House to your Committee on Wednesday 24 February about the
time the media first reported Police activity relating to an MP
on Thursday 27 November 2008, it might be helpful to set out my
recollections, and those of my executive officer, Mr Mark Harvey.
On 26 November, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai
took place. The next day there was much media comment and analysis
of this event, and its aftermath. I watched much of this on my
office screen. I too recall, and so does Mark, the news about
police activity relating to an MP being carried during the early
afternoon of the 27th. What neither of us recalls is which media
channel we were watching at the time.
After the news item had appeared, I explained
to Mark that the police had alerted me to such a possibility a
couple of days earlier. I had received a clear assurance that
the Serjeant at Arms was in discussion with the police about this,
and had been for some time. I understood that the matter related
to a security issue in the Home Officea leak inquiryand
did not relate to the security of Parliament, but to the alleged
activity in connection with that matter by an MP. I judged that
this was a matter for the Serjeant and that she was correctly
engaged with the police. Mark recalls this conversation clearly
and that occurred during the early afternoon of the 27th.
Peter Mason
9 March 2010
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