"I asked her what proof she had that was the case. Her reply was that we just had to trust the security services. I then asked her how that squared with legal accountability in a democratic state. I remember that she chuckled as if at the naivety of my question. Her response was that MI5 is accountable only to itself and if it broke the law, as it did back in her day, then they would simply go to the government and ask for a law or other instrument to be introduced that would retrospectively legalise MI5's law-breaking...
"You could have heard a pin drop in the audience. I have to admit to a degree of admiration for her no bullshit frankness about what she disclosed. At the same time I was frankly appalled by the arrogance of MI5 and its almost complete lack of accountability.
"Reminded me very much of the content of 'Spycatcher' which the government of the day made an arse out of itself by trying to censor."
MI5 has been a rogue, often criminal, element in the UK's security apparatus, as the BBC investigation demonstrates
@SimonScarrow
Jonathan Brind